Obama urged to fund watchdog agencies

Agencies charged with protecting public health and natural resources from pollution - the EPA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Geological Survey and the Consumer Product Safety Commission - suffered drastic budget cuts or were thwarted from carrying out their missions, the groups say.

At the same time that the Environmental Protection Agency allowed businesses to reduce reporting of toxic waste releases, it and other agencies also eliminated or downsized more than a dozen essential monitoring programs, according to researchers at environmental groups that have asked Obama to redress the problems.

Representatives of the EPA didn't respond to general criticisms of the agency's past performance in protecting the public, but a spokesman for Obama's transition team said the new administration will address the issues.