Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango), Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, responded to stories about the significant cuts in the budgets for DEP and DCNR in the Harrisburg Patriot and other newspapers over the weekend. Here's her letter--While the recent state budget contains difficult spending reductions for all agencies, necessitated by a $3.2 billion deficit, your recent article (Oct. 16) leaves an inaccurate impression on how much money the state's environmental and conservation agencies have available to do their job.
An important component lacking from your report is the fact that the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources receive money outside of the state budget bill. For example, DEP is slated to receive nearly $20 million in new revenue from higher permitting fees - money that will go directly to paying for personnel costs. Additionally, many of the cuts to DEP's budget were for discretionary grant programs, including the elimination of one program The Patriot-News has criticized as "WAMs."
Likewise, DCNR suffered cuts to its budget, but your article overlooks that the agency has $25 million available to it from the 2008 Marcellus Shale lease offering. Recall that in Gov. Rendell's first year, he cut state park funding by 20 percent and not a single park closed.
The budget package also sets aside $50 million in future royalty money for DCNR to use virtually anywhere in its budget. And DEP and DCNR continue to benefit from other off-budget programs, such as Growing Greener and the Keystone Fund.
The budget cuts are real and will require difficult management decisions. But your readers deserve an accurate picture of the total resources agencies have available to do their job.
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