House Democrats Propose New State Forest Leasing Plan

The House began debate on House Bill 1407 (DeLuca-D-Allegheny) this afternoon and considered 18 of over 30 amendments to the bill.
House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) was prepared to offer a comprehensive "gut and replace" amendment to the bill, however, opposition to several provisions, including a section that would exempt rail-hauled waste disposed in Pennsylvania from the $4/ton Growing Greener Program fee caused Rep. Eachus to pull back the amendment for "corrections."
The amendment included a revised plan to lease State Forest land for natural gas drilling which capped the amount of acres the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources could lease at 30,000 for each of the next two years, sets a minimum bid of $3,000 per acre (rather than $2,500 in the Senate-passed version) and a minimum 18 percent (rather than 16 percent) royalty.
Moneys from the leasing would still go into the Oil and Gas Fund, but $60 million would be transferred out of the Fund in FY 2009-10 to help balance the budget. No transfers were included for FY 2010-11 (a $180 million transfer was included in the Senate-passed version for next year).
The amendment also included an extension of the $2/ton Recycling Fee through 2020, creation of a Waste Tire Pile Cleanup Fund transferring $1.2 million from the Recycling Fund to the program and would have exempted waste rail shipped into Pennsylvania from the $4/ton Growing Greener fee.
Provisions related to water infrastructure were also included-- boiler plate language to implement the $400 million water infrastructure passed by voters last November and a revision to the definition of the types of organizations eligible for H20 Water Infrastructure financial assistance.
And also like the Senate version, language authorizing the Department of Environmental Protection to charge fees of up to $150 to applicants applying for funds under the Alternative Energy Investment Act of 2008; and eliminating funding to DEP for the Consumer Energy Program for FY 2009-10.
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