Senate Passes Budget III Bills, Cuts Environmental Programs

The Senate today passed several bills needed to implement the Budget III Agreement. The General Fund budget includes a 26.7 percent reduction in funding for the Department of Environmental Protection ($58 million) and an 18.5 percent reduction for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ($21 million).
The legislation also requires the leasing of enough State Forest land for natural gas drilling in FY 2009-10 to generate $60 million in income.
Also not included in the DEP budget is $52 million in Act 339 funding to support wastewater treatment plant operations.
The bill also reduces funding for the Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) farm conservation tax credit program by $5 million.
$980 Million Diverted Over 7 Years
If this budget receives final action in the House and is signed by Gov. Rendell, it means over the last 7 years $980 million in environmental funding has been diverted to other program that could not get funding on their own or were used to help balance the state budget. Here's the roll call of cuts and diversions--
-- $376 million in Act 339 grants intended to support wastewater plant operations over the last seven years were eliminated to balance the budget;
-- $174 million diverted from the DCNR Oil and Gas Fund to balance the 2008-09 budget;
-- $79 million cut from the DEP and DCNR General Fund budget during 2009-10 fiscal year;
-- $60 million diverted from the DCNR Oil and Gas Fund to balance the 2009-10 budget;
-- $100 million in 2002 from the Underground Storage Tank cleanup insurance fund to balance the budget (although this is slowly being repaid over 10 years);
-- $52.7 million “one-time” diversion from the Keystone Recreation, Parks and Conservation Fund in 2006 to balance the budget;
-- $50 million in 2007 and 2008 from the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which supports mine reclamation and watershed restoration, to fund the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program because there was no agreement on how to fund that program;
-- $50 million in 2007 and 2008 from the Environmental Stewardship Fund to pay debt service on the Growing Greener II bond issue and taking funding away from restoration projects each year for the next 25 years – reflecting a pattern of only environmental programs being required to address their own bond debt service;
-- $15 million from the Recycling Fund in to balance the 2008-09 budget;
-- $18.4 million put into budgetary reserve in 2008-09 from the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and
-- $5 million reduction in Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) farm conservation tax credit program in FY 2009-10.
The bill passed by the Senate include--
-- General Fund Budget: Senate Bill 1085 (Corman-R-Centre) Budget III Line Item Spreadsheet
-- Tax Code: House Bill 1531 (George-D-Clearfield) Budget III Tax Summary
-- Fiscal Code: Senate Bill 1042 (Browne-R-Lehigh)- State Forest gas leasing and other changes. Summary Budget III Fiscal Code Changes