On April 8, Senators Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington) and Patrick Stefano (R-Fayette) proposed legislation to end the moratorium on leasing DCNR State Forest land for drilling and use the proceeds from new natural gas development to fund a Restore Pennsylvania-like environmental infrastructure program.
In a memo to their colleagues asking for support, the Senators said, “Gov. Wolf proposed a plan called Restore PA, which would use a job killing energy tax to fund a bond to provide funding for blight remediation, stormwater infrastructure, flood prevention, brownfield cleanups, green infrastructure and repairing the Commonwealth’s back roads among other projects.
“While Gov. Wolf’s focus on these important issues for Pennsylvania’s communities is worth applauding, we believe the proposed funding source for these initiatives is reckless and counterproductive.
“The Governor’s proposed severance tax will only cost jobs and increase energy prices for Pennsylvanians.
“In the near future, we will introduce two bills in an effort to end Gov. Wolf’s moratorium on non-surface disturbance natural gas drilling on state forest land and direct any new revenue towards funding conservation projects such as those referenced in Restore PA.
One bill would end the moratorium on “non-surface disturbance natural gas drilling on state forest land and allow DCNR to decide whether to enter into new natural gas leases.
“Restoring DCNR’s ability to provide new natural gas leases in a safe and responsible manner will produce much needed, new revenue. This legislation only removes the Governor’s moratorium; it does not require DCNR to authorize new non-surface disturbance horizontal drilling.”
A second bill would establish a special fund managed by the Commonwealth Financing Authority to use any revenue generated from new gas drilling to fund projects in several categories--
-- Blight Remediation: When the blight to be replaced is an environmental hazard or will be replaced with green space. These grants will be available to Land Banks and Redevelopment Authorities with land bank capabilities.
-- Critical Flood Control Infrastructure: Funding will be made available to replace high hazard dams and conduct stream restoration and maintenance.
-- Stormwater Infrastructure: Pennsylvania’s stormwater infrastructure is aging and federal EPA mandates are causing storm water fees to be put in place to replace or install storm water systems.
-- PA Back Roads: Funding will be made available for paving and repairing of dirt and gravel roads, and helping to reduce the sediment in our streams.
-- Green Infrastructure: Funding will be made available to state, county and municipal parks for new outdoor recreational opportunities for residents.
-- Abandoned Mine Reclamation Projects: Funding will be made available to conservation districts and organizations seeking to undertake mine reclamation to improve waters flowing into our waterways.
Click Here for a copy of the co-sponsor memo.
[Note: DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn told the Senate Appropriations Committee in March only about 35 percent of the existing natural gas drilling leases on state forest land have been developed and there has been very little recent new activity.]
Reaction
The Beaver Times quoted Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott as saying, “the proposed legislation “appears to be unconstitutional” based on a state Supreme Court ruling that requires such revenue be applied to the “conservation and maintenance” of public natural resources.”
In June 2017, the PA Environmental Defense Foundation won a case in front of the PA Supreme Court which declared transfers from the DCNR Oil and Gas Lease Fund to the General Fund and other programs unconstitutional because the General Assembly and the Governor were not acting as trustees for Pennsylvania’s natural resources under the state’s Environmental Rights Amendment (Article I, Section 27).
The Court said, “On their face, these amendments lack any indication that the Commonwealth is required to contemplate, let alone reasonably exercise, its duties as the trustee of the environmental public trust created by the Environmental Rights Amendment.
“The Commonwealth itself readily acknowledges that revenue generated by oil and gas leases is now spent in a multitude of ways entirely unrelated to the conservation and maintenance of our public natural resources.
“... there is no indication that the General Assembly considered the purposes of the public trust or exercised reasonable care in managing the royalties in a manner consistent with its Section 27 trustee duties.”
“No longer can the Commonwealth treat our public resources as government property. Our resources are our property, and the government must protect them for us and for all our future generations.”
John Childe, the attorney for PEDF, said of the decision, “The court has further recognized that money from the conversion of those resources [natural gas drilling] must be used for the benefit of those resources. This should stop our legislature from requiring leasing of our State Forest and Parks for revenue.”
Drilling Lease Moratorium
Gov. Wolf signed an executive order in February of 2015 reinstating a moratorium on new leases for oil and gas development in state parks and forests as part of fulfilling a 2014 campaign promise.
It has been in effect since then despite various attempts by Republicans to require DCNR to lease additional lands for drilling to generate revenue, including as part of the 2014 budget settlement.
The Order replaces an executive order put in place by Gov. Corbett in May of 2014 that would allow leasing state forest land for drilling so long as long-term surface disturbances could be avoided.
The original leasing moratorium was put in place by Gov. Rendell in November 2010 right after the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources leased over 137,000 acres of State Forest land for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling and a few days before the 2010 gubernatorial election.
Almost all of the proceeds from these leases at that time went to balancing the state budget, not to conservation or environmental programs.
For more information on natural gas development on state forest land, visit DCNR’s Natural Gas Management webpage. Click Here for the latest Shale Gas Development Monitoring report from DCNR.
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