RALEIGH North Carolina has cut roughly 80 jobs from the main environmental regulatory agency since 2013, and the agency’s budget has been slashed by millions of dollars even while the overall state budget has grown.

Gov. Roy Cooper rolled out a plan Tuesday to start undoing some of those cuts, as his office announced nearly $15 million in additional spending on environmental issues that the Democratic governor wants the Republican-controlled state legislature to approve next month.

“Protecting the water we drink and the air we breathe is critical, and my budget recommendations will give state agencies the tools they need to continue keeping North Carolina families healthy,” Cooper said.

The money he’s asking for would create about 50 new jobs in the state’s environmental and public health departments. Some would be in the field, testing water samples. Other new jobs would be for scientists working in labs to evaluate those samples, or coming up with health advice for people who may have ingested pollution from the state’s waterways.