Conservation in Peril

8/2/2019 Conservation in Peril

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Pennsylvania: Conservation in Peril

1 John Quigley

John QuigleyJohn H Quigley LLC


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2 John Quigley

Natural resource conservation in Pennsylvania

the state where the conservation movementbegan is in peril.

Operating budgets for state parks and forests,staffing, investments, and conservation

assistance programs have all been slashed over

the last 5 years.

This presentation provides some details.


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3 John Quigley

Lets begin by looking at the budget situation for

Pennsylvanias conservation agency - the

Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources (DCNR).


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Presented below are the key funding sources for Pennsylvanias Department of

Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) for the last 5 years.

$-

$20,000

$40,000

$60,000

$80,000

$100,000

$120,000

Actual Actual Actual available budget

08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

General Fund $101,856 $89,343 $77,601 $52,288 $49,618

Oil & Gas Lease Fund $4,473 $13,192 $24,002 $79,584 $69,511

Environmental Stewardship Fund $10,799 $8,675 $7,565 $8,322 $5,758

Growing Greener Bond Fund $48,538 $32,188 $18,229 $5,500 $4,500

Keystone Recreation Park & Conservation Fund $41,050 $35,965 $33,320 $24,715 $-

DCNR: Key Funds 2008-2013 ($000)

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Lets look at the trends for each major fund.

First, DCNRs General Fund budget, that is

supported by general state tax revenue.

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DCNRs General Fund budget has been slashed 36% in the last two years, and 51% since

2008. It is now more than a third less than it was when the agency was formed in 1995.


08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

General Fund $101,856 $89,343 $77,601 $52,288 $49,618

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

$100,000

$110,000

DCNR's General Fund Budget 2008-2013

($000)

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Next, DCNRs Oil and Gas Lease Fund (OGLF)

Created in 1955

Intent of OGLF was to exclusively fund conservation, recreation, dams, andflood control projects on State Forest Lands from the leasing of gas rights.

From 1955-2008: $160M to OGLF

Bought 8 state parks and parts of 30 others

One of most successful conservation programs in US historyBut

2008-10: $383 million from 3 state forest lease sales (totalling 139K acres)

transferred from OGLF to states General Fund

First time in PA history that state forest leasing was ordered by General

Assembly to help balance the state budget @ 700K acres 1/3 of state forest now available for drilling

Further leasing will jeopardize ecological integrity, sustainability of state forest

And

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To partially offset budget cuts, DCNR has used its Oil and Gas Lease Fund to run the agency.

DCNRs use of OGLF for operations more than tripled last year, and has increased 14 and a

half times - 1454% - since 2008. DCNR now depends on resource extraction to keep the

lights on.


08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

Oil & Gas Lease Fund $4,473 $13,192 $24,002 $79,584 $69,511

$-

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

OGLF Used for DCNR Operations 2008-2013

($000)

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Next, DCNRs share of the Environmental

Stewardship Fund better known as GrowingGreener

Used by DCNR to fund grants for community conservation projects and naturaldiversity

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DCNRs share of Environmental Stewardship funds has fallen 47% since 2008.


08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

Environmental

Stewardship Fund$10,799 $8,675 $7,565 $8,322 $5,758

$-

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

DCNR Share, Environmental Stewardship Fund 2008-2013

($000)

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Next, DCNRs share of the Growing Greener

Bond Fund

Used for state park/forest improvements, and for grants to communities forlocal parks/recreation and open space conservation.

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DCNRs share of the expired Growing Greener Bond Fund has declined 91% since 2008.


08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

Growing Greener

Bond Fund$48,538 $32,188 $18,229 $5,500 $4,500

$-

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000$30,000

$35,000

$40,000

$45,000

$50,000

DCNR Growing Greener Bond Fund 2008-2013

($000)

12 John Quigley


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Finally, the Keystone Fund

Provided a reliable, dedicated (from the states realty transfer tax) source of

funds for state park/forest improvements, and grants for local park/recreation

projects and open space conservation .

Since the Fund's creation in 1993:

846 trail projects, including the Great Allegheny Passage and the Pine

Creek Trail; Conservation of 146K acres of green space for county/municipal parks,

greenways, wildlife habitat, other open space;

State park/forest improvements including construction, rehab of

restrooms, parking lots, roads, bridges, visitors' centers, water fountains,

sewage treatment, trails, cabins, campgrounds, other facilities; 2,557 community park projects; and

Completion of county natural heritage inventories in 66 counties.

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DCNRs Keystone Fund has declined 40% since 2008-2012 (due to the recession), and is

proposed to bezeroed outin 2012-2013, with its funds transferred to the states General

Fund.


08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

Keystone Recreation Park &

Conservation Fund$41,050 $35,965 $33,320 $24,715 $-

$-

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

$30,000

$35,000

$40,000

$45,000

$50,000

DCNR Keystone Fund 2008-2013

($000)

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As a result, investment is state park and forest rehab/projects has fallen by 98% since 2008.

$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

$30,000

$35,000

$40,000

$45,000

$50,000

08-09

Actual

09-10

Actual

10-11

actual

11-12

available

12-13

budget

GG Bond Fund - State Park/Forest

Projects$26,751 $19,625 $6,242 $2,000 $1,000

Keystone - Park/Forest rehab $18,946 $16,599 $15,379 $11,407 $-

DCNR State Park and Forest Investments 2008-2013

($000)

15 John Quigley


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Farmland Preservation

Corbett administration proposes to permanently eliminate $20.45 million

in funding for farmland preservation from the cigarette tax. The money

will now be transferred to the General Fund.

For 2012-13 and 2013-14, the administration proposes backfilling with

Growing Greener II bond funds (which are nearly gone).

They have no plans to deal with the diversion of money after 2013-2014. 2000 farms on waiting list.

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Act 13 of 2012: A $50M Annual Raid on

Conservation

Recall:

2008-10: $383 million from 3 state forest lease sales transferred from OGLF to

states General Fund

DCNR using OGLF for operations to partially offset savage budget cuts

Act 13 makes the raid on conservation vastly worse, and permanent:

In 2013 transfers $20M from OGLF thru Marcellus Legacy Fund to

Environmental Stewardship Fund and $35M/yr. thereafter to fund Growing

Greener program at greatly reduced levels.

In 2015 transfers $5M thru Marcellus Legacy Fund to Hazardous Sites CleanupFund and $15M/yr. thereafter to mitigate abandoned industrial sites.

$50M annually taken directly from conservation to pay for other programs.

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Act 13 of 2012: Public Lands Protections

Weakened

Under prior Oil and Gas Law, DEP could take into consideration impacts onpublic lands when considering drilling permit applications.

2010 DEP/DCNR established guidance requiring studies, consultation fordrilling permits on state land where mineral rights are privately owned:

15% of state forest 85% of state park land

61/120 state parks lie atop Marcellus fairway

Corbett Admin. rescinded 2010 policy in its 1st week in office asduplicative

Act 13 DEP must go through Environmental Quality board to put in place anyadditional public lands protections

Erected a hurdle to protecting public lands

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Conservation in Pennsylvania is in peril.

To sum up

Savage budget cuts to DCNR

Reliance on resource extraction to fund DCNR

Systematic disinvestment in State Parks

State Forests

Communities Natural diversity

Open space conservation

Farmland preservation

Raid on OGLF

New barriers to protecting public lands

19 John Quigley


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John Quigley

John H Quigley LLC

[email protected]

Twitter: @JohnHQuigleyhttp://johnhquigley.blogspot.com/

http://www.onearth.org/author/john-quigley

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