International Environment

Have federal agencies been "raiding" funds intended for program operations in order to foot travel bills for a growing number of international environmental conferences? GAO found that travel funding overall seems adequate at the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy. The limited availability of travel funds at the State Department, however, has precluded its staff from participating in international environmental meetings that they consider important. When State Department staff do not participate, federal agency officials with technical expertise in environmental issues go in their place; State Department personnel work with them to ensure that U.S. interests are adequately represented. State Department officials believe that the United State is generally well represented and that its foreign policy objectives are being met. Nevertheless, GAO is concerned that the limited funding for travel is reducing the opportunity for State Department officials to play an active role in international environmental activities.

GAO found that: (1) EPA, DOE, and NOAA have had adequate travel funds to send representatives to international meetings on the environment; (2) both the numbers of meetings on international environmental issues and the amounts agencies have spent on foreign travel have increased in recent years; (3) between fiscal years 1986 and 1990, overall and foreign travel fund obligations for EPA, NOAA, and DOE have increased in 1982 constant dollars; (4) agencies' use of operations funds to pay for foreign travel it has not adversely affected agency programs; (5) at State, limitations on the availability of travel funds have restricted staff from participating in international environmental activities; and (6) State staff have limited their direct involvement to the most important or critical meetings and increasingly rely on other agencies to represent U.S. interests at meetings that they can not attend.