"Debt Deal Set to Crater Energy, Enviro Spending for Years to Come"

"As the capital's debt-limit drama enters its final act today, the last two solutions standing -- one Democratic, one GOP -- would slash long-term energy and environmental spending to a degree comparable with the fiscally austere deal struck to avert a springtime federal shutdown.

The bipartisan alignment on knifing what is likely to be billions of dollars from U.S. EPA and the Energy and Interior departments' budgets over the next 10 years is drawing little notice as the debt-limit talks hurtle toward a hectic climax marked by bitter intra-party tensions.

Even as they focus on a splashier battle against restrictive policy riders in GOP spending bills, Democrats and environmentalists alike acknowledge that the deficit endgame spells doom for their priorities."

Elana Schor reports for Greenwire July 28, 2011.