By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press, 8/30/2003

WASHINGTON -- "Energy Star" is the Bush administration's most highly touted energy conservation program, but that has not kept the Environmental Protection Agency from quietly slashing its budget by shifting millions of dollars to other programs.

…The program produces $70 in benefits for every dollar spent on it, according to EPA officials. Last spring, Whitman singled it out as "a shining example" of government-business cooperation to cut energy use, saying it has spurred $7 billion in energy savings. Two years ago, Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force called for its expansion.

…The reason given, according to these sources, was that the EPA had to find money to pay for scores of congressionally mandated projects while at the same time absorbing an across-the-board spending cut.

But the cut was only about one-half of 1 percent, meaning Energy Star should have lost no more than about $250,000.

Instead, the $12.5 million was siphoned away to pay for other programs and projects within the agency, including "pork barrel" projects that lawmakers demanded be fully funded, said EPA and private sources familiar with the budget process.

"It's been used as kind of a slush fund," said Kara Renaldi, director of policy for the Alliance to Save Energy, an advocacy group. She said it was easy to target the program because Energy Star's specific funding level is not protected as a line item in the EPA budget, and because it is not linked to any specific regulatory requirement.