Monday, February 27, 2017

Drilling On DCNR Lands, Privatization Topics Discussed At House DCNR Budget Hearing

DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn Monday answered questions in front of the House Appropriations Committee for 90 minutes about the proposed FY 2017-18 budget requested for DCNR.
Rep. Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny), Minority Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed a concern about again using significant monies from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund to pay personnel and operations costs.
With respect to privatization in state parks, Secretary Dunn said DCNR has involved private concessionaires and already has authority to pursue public-private partnership.  There are 145 agreements now in place, everything from food vendors to the recent agreement opening the Laurel Mountain ski area.  
She said she would welcome ideas for public-private partnerships that are compatible with the mission of state parks.
Other topics mentioned at the hearing were: the Outdoor Corps youth work experience program, the multi-use riparian buffer grant initiative and gypsy moth spraying.
Click Here for a summary of DCNR’s written budget testimony.
Here is a quick summary of issues raised by questions from House members at the budget hearing--
-- Using Oil & Gas Lease Fund For Operations: Rep. Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny), Minority Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed a concern about again using significant monies from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund to pay personnel and operations costs.
-- Drilling On State Park Land: Dunn noted DCNR does not own the mineral rights under 85 percent of the land used for state parks.  There are no Marcellus Shale natural gas wells on state parks, but there are some conventional wells on state park land.  She noted there is a moratorium on additional drilling on DCNR land.  Dunn did point out only 20 percent of the leases already issued are now being developed by drillers.  She said there is not a single drilling rig on state forest land at the moment.
-- Recovering Royalties Owed To DCNR: Dunn said DCNR recovered nearly $1.5 million over the last year in mistakes made by drilling companies paying royalties to DCNR for the wells drilled on state forest land.  Dunn noted DCNR retained an accountant to help in this recovery process.
-- Ryerson Station/Coal Mining: Rep. John Maher (R-Allegheny), Majority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, asked for the status of agreements with Consol mining needed to mine coal near Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County.  Dunn noted the Environmental Hearing Board issued a supercedeas preventing mining according to the agreement with DCNR and DEP.  Consol recently reached out to again pursue those discussions with the agency, Dunn said.
-- Privatization In State Parks: Dunn said from the very first state parks the agency has involved private concessionaires and already has authority to pursue those ideas.  There are 145 agreements now in place, everything from food vendors to the recent agreement opening the Laurel Mountain ski area.  She said she would welcome ideas for public-private partnerships that are compatible with the state parks mission.
-- Serving Urban Areas: Dunn said it is DCNR’s mission to serve all areas of the state and the Community Conservation Partnership Grants significantly support urban recreation opportunities.
-- Riparian Buffers: Rep. Mike Carroll (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, asked about plans for funding riparian buffers to meet, in part, Pennsylvania’s obligations under the Chesapeake Bay Program.  Dunn outlined DCNR’s leadership role in helping to fund multi-use riparian buffer grant initiative to improve water quality.  Rep. Carroll expressed concerns about Gov. Wolf’s proposed plan to float a bond to fund its watershed cleanup obligations.
-- Performance Budgeting: In response to a question on whether DCNR uses performance budgeting, Dunn said DCNR uses a variety of measuring tools to evaluate the agency’s programs, including partnering with Penn State to develop an economic impact study of state parks.
Click Here for a summary of DCNR’s written budget testimony. Click Here to view a video of the hearing when it is posted.
The Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on DCNR’s budget is March 1 at 3:00 a.m. Click Here to watch the Senate hearing live.
Related Story:
DCNR Budget Testimony Outlines Economic Benefits Of Recreation, Accomplishments

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