2010-2011 Budget

Update: July 6, 2010

As a result of all of many grassroots calls, emails and letters, the General Assembly passed a budget that:

Expressed the intent to pass a Marcellus Shale severance tax by 10/1/2010 with revenues to be divided between the “Commonwealth, counties and municipalities, and environmental initiatives.” (There is still a lot of very important detail to be worked out on this!)
Imposed no new drilling leasing mandates on the State Forests.
Closed a loophole that could have been used to require DCNR to put more State Forests up for lease.

In terms of general environmental funding, $132 million of potential raids on environmental funds were avoided. Unfortunately, other elements of the budget are not so good from a conservation perspective. State General Fund (i.e. general tax dollar) support for DCNR and DEP was substantially cut. Increases in permitting fees and other revenues for the Departments will partially offset this loss but only partially. The PA Environment Digest counts $1.3B in total diversions from environmental programs over the last eight years (see www.paenvironmentdigest.com/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=16176).

Although the legislature is committed to passing a severance tax, the details of the tax will need to be worked out when the legislature reconvenes in the fall. A battle over the details of the severance tax is inevitable as many special interests will be lobbying hard.

We need your help to ensure that environmental programs win a fair share of the tax revenues. Please take every opportunity this summer to impress upon your legislators the importance of investing a significant portion of severance tax revenue in the environment. Most importantly, plan a visit to your legislator’s district office! For help planning a meeting, email drillinghasconsequences@gmail.com.

By dedicating a portion of proposed gas extraction tax revenues to land, water and wildlife conservation and to local governments impacted by gas exploitation, we can offset the damages caused by natural gas operations. Pennsylvania can lay the foundation for a prosperous future.