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Coalition Calls On Legislators To Renew Growing Greener With Natural Gas Severance Tax
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Key Democratic House members, sportsmens and environmental groups, county conservation districts and other organizations urged the General Assembly to follow through with their commitment to adopt a Marcellus Shale natural gas production severance tax by October 1 at a news conference on Monday. One of those speaking at the event was Andrew Heath, Executive Director of the Renew Growing Greener Coalition representing over 180 groups using severance tax revenue to fund a retargeted, refocused Growing Greener Program. Here are his remarks from the press conference.
I am the Executive Director of the Renew Growing Greener Coalition, a coalition of 23 of the state’s leading conservation, recreation and environmental organizations, and a supporting cast of 160 other organizations and communities that is growing daily.
Growing Greener has transformed Pennsylvania by empowering communities to protect working farms and special places, clean up rivers and streams, create and improve parks and trails, and revitalize cities and towns. Growing Greener remains the single largest investment in restoring the environment ever made by the Commonwealth.
A recent Legislative Budget and Finance Committee report shows that Growing Greener is running out of money. Virtually all of the remaining Growing Greener II bonds are committed. Soon, three-quarters of the Growing Greener I Environmental Stewardship Fund money will be used to pay the debt service on the Growing Greener II bonds.
This means that funding for Growing Greener programs will dropped from $200 million in 2007-2008, to as low as $15 million next year. We cannot allow this to happen.
The renew Growing Greener Coalition has identified, through numerous conversations with different agencies and organizations from across the state, that in order to continue the good work being done, the Commonwealth needs to fund Growing Greener at a level of $200 million a year. This is the mission of the Coalition.
Solving the funding problem is no small feat and we are going to be having this discussion for the next year as we evaluate different sources of revenues. However, right now, the Severance Tax poses our best opportunity to begin working toward our $200 million goal.
Our policy makers must make passing a Severance Tax their highest priority. The tax should be passed by October 1st and must not be muddied down with other issues. The Severance Tax bill should be independent and not linked to other issues, whether those issues are pooling, zoning or safety standards.
The Severance Tax should take effect in January, 2011, in a form and at a rate and schedule which ensures that sufficient revenue will be available for robust investments in environmental projects and programs.
Although the Severance Tax will not get us to our ultimate goal of $200 million a year, it represents a great opportunity to direct a portion of the proceeds from an activity that takes from Pennsylvania’s natural resources back into a successful program that benefits the environment and all Pennsylvanians. It is not unrealistic to argue a Severance Tax could get us half way to our goal by generating $100 million a year, by 2013, for the Environmental Stewardship Fund and Renew Growing Greener.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a very clear and present danger when it comes to our future environmental funding. Now is the time for our policy makers to act – and to act decisively in support of Pennsylvania’s future by taking the first step to Renewing Growing Greener through passage of a timely and robust Severance Tax.
For more information, visit the Renew Growing Greener website.
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9/20/2010 |
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