DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell told the Citizens Advisory Council Tuesday grants to fund local recycling programs can now move forward thanks to reauthorization of the $2/ton Recycling Fee by the General Assembly in October.

At the same time, McDonnell noted work continues with the General Assembly on making improvements to both the Act 101 recycling law and the electronics waste recycling law.

On another budget item, McDonnell said he could not yet offer any information on how or if DEP will be affected by the provision in the budget bill requiring Gov. Wolf to identify $300 million in transfers from special funds to the General Fund to help balance the budget.

He also reported as a win legislation closing Pennsylvania’s borders with respect to solar energy credits utilities must buy under the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards because it helps support local energy projects.

With respect to agency programs, McDonnell said DEP was beginning a new initiative to use software tools to allow managers to get a better handle on data in the eFACTS system and other databases in the department. 

The goal he said was not to develop “interesting facts,” but to help managers drive the process to improve permitting, inspections and other aspects of DEP’s operations.

CAC Chair Don Welsh offered the Council’s help in shaping more of the top-level indicators used by the department to manage its programs, which McDonnell welcomed.

McDonnell said he is also rebooting the Regional Roundtable Program to get the public more involved in each of the six Environmental Protection Regional Offices, instead of just having a few offices covered. 

He said information will be going out from each of the regions on how to become involved in the Roundtables.  There will also be regional web-based public participation as well.

Welsh said the Council was considering having members get involved in the Roundtables, which McDonnell also welcomed.

Act 54 Report

Sharon Hill, Chief of the Bureau of Mining Programs Permits and Technical Section, and Greg Shuler a Geologist from the Bureau, provided an overview of the steps DEP has taken to address the findings made in the 2008 to 2013 Act 54 report on the surface impacts of underground bituminous coal mining.

Hill said DEP identified 45 issues to be addressed and so far DEP has dealt with 25 items.  She noted some of the issues were longer term like electronic monitoring and epermitting initiatives.

Hill said the University of Pittsburgh will again be doing the next report covering 2013 to 2018 and has finalized a contract with Pitt to do the report.  Act 54 requires DEP to prepare a report on the surface impacts of underground bituminous coal mining every five years.

Shuler said one of the major differences between how the new report will be done and the last one is DEP will be providing Pitt with stream data and collect other data they need to complete the report to help reduce its cost. 

He also said DEP hopes to give Pitt direct computer access to the agency’s data to cut down on the back and forth that happens as the University is putting the report together.

Hill said they are aiming to have a draft report completed in late 2018 and hope to distributed a final report by August 2019.

USGS Streamflow Study

In response to a question, Hill said a report by the U.S. Geological Survey to help mine operators and DEP staff evaluate the effects of underground coal mining on stream flows in Western Pennsylvania is now complete and being reviewed internally at the USGS.  It should be available in March of 2018.

The USGS established streamgages to monitor flow in small unmined reference watersheds in the western bituminous coal field and evaluated how the reference gages can be used to estimate natural streamflow in ungaged watersheds. 

If  the natural daily flow can be accurately estimated, the effects on streams in areas of mining (especially longwall mining) can be better quantified.  The study focused on streamflow; water quality was not studied.

The Citizens Advisory Council has provided comments to DEP on the Act 54 reports in the past.

For more information on Act 54 and past reports, visit DEP’s Act 54 webpage.

Ecological Offsets

Jon Kasitz, Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC, gave a presentation to the Council on emerging trends in ecological offsets, the practice of developing a wetlands restoration or other conservation areas and selling off approved credits to projects that need to replace wetlands, restore streams or reduce nutrients.

Kastiz said RES is a commercial business specializing in developing these conservation projects to provide offset credits not only for wetlands replacement, but for stream restoration, water quality improvements, stormwater nutrient and sediment reduction and the new area of endangered species mitigation.

He said RES has developed some of the largest conservation projects in Pennsylvania for offsets, including an approved Indiana bat conservation bank that has already sold credits to PennDOT and private developers.

The company has 40 full-time employees and 25+ miles of stream restoration-- 15 miles of restoration in 2017 alone; 200+ acres of wetland restoration; and 500+ acres of endangered species conservation “banks” implemented so far in the state.

Click Here for a copy of his presentation.

DEP Budget Overview

Tina Sutton, Director of DEP’s Bureau of Fiscal Management, provided Council with its most detailed overview yet of the DEP’s budget, which she noted is about 30 percent federal funds, 21 percent state General Fund monies, 44 percent from fees and the remainder from reimbursements (augmentations) by other agency programs internally and externally.

Sutton said DEP has a current complement of 2,542 filled positions, explaining the agency no longer has vacancies.  Personnel costs, including benefits, make up about 39 percent of DEP’s overall budget.

In a series of pie charts and other information, she explained where each of the major parts of DEP’s budget comes from and how it is generally spent, including the General Fund, Special Funds, Restricted Revenues, Federal Funds and augmentations.

Sutton also provided spreadsheets with information on income and general expenditures from DEP’s major special funds, including the Clean Air Fund, Clean Water Fund, Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, Recycling Fund, Safe Drinking Water Fund, and the Well Plugging Account (which pays for the operation of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Management).  (Note: These spreadsheets do not incorporate any proposed fee increases, although several are pending.)

She noted in her budget handouts that during the recent budget impasse Secretary McDonnell sent letters to the Chairs of the Senate and House Environmental Resources and Energy Committees on September 8 and September 20 expressing concerns about the impact of  proposals to transfer funds from several of DEP’s special funds to help balance the state’s General Fund budget.

An 8-page overview of DEP’s budget by major line-item and special fund was also presented by Sutton that included the agency’s proposed FY 2018-19 budget request.   The request was prepared pursuant to the Governor’s Office direction to keep spending level.

The budget request represents a cost-to-carry budget with no real increases.  The state General Fund request would go from $147.7 million to $154.8 million and assumes about the same level of federal funding support (which may or may not come to be) and income from fees and other restricted revenue.

The total all-in agency budget, including state, federal, fee and other revenue, would go from $716,782,000 in FY 2017-18 to $716,704,000 in FY 2018-19; with slight reductions in augmentations and federal support making the difference.

CAC Chair Don Welsh and Council members discussed how they could offer DEP and the General Assembly their comments on the agency’s budget situation as they have in the past.

In June, for example, the Council wrote to Senate and House members and Gov. Wolf saying the consistent cuts to DEP’s budget are unsustainable.

The Council’s next meeting is on January 16.

For more information and available handouts, visit the DEP Citizens Advisory Council webpage or contact Lee Ann Murray, Executive Director, by calling 717-787-8171 or send email to: LeeMurray@pa.gov.

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[Posted: Nov. 15, 2017]

11/20/2017