Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty told the Senate and House Appropriations Committees this week that an Administration plan to reduce climate changing greenhouse gases is unlikely, a state water resource atlas will be released later this month and funding is needed to address Pennsylvania’s $20 billion water infrastructure needs.

Here’s more of what she said on these and other issues.

Budget Generally: Sen. Jake Corman (R-Centre) expressed concern over the fact the General Assembly has to pay the cost of a labor contract negotiated by the Governor with no input from legislators. The result is to balance the budget legislators have to cut programs to pay for the personnel costs.

Secretary McGinty said there is no fat in this budget and it posed tough decisions for the Governor and the General Assembly. She noted the budget reduces the opportunities for public input on agency decisions by limiting overtime spending, student internships have been cut by 56 percent and vehicle maintenance is postponed.

The Secretary also said she lost hundreds of employees to retirements due to changes made in health benefits by the Rendell Administration.

Sen. Corman concluded by saying he did not know if the General Assembly could restore the line items they traditional do each year given the increase in personnel costs.

The Rendell Administration is still projecting a $427 million fiscal year-end surplus.

Climate Change: In response to a question by Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango) asking where the climate change plan was that Gov. Rendell promised in February 2007, Secretary McGinty said the slower than anticipated movement of energy legislation and the fact that both the House and Senate passed legislation to create stakeholder groups to develop state climate plans meant the Rendell Administration would not be proposing its own plan. She said at the moment, energy legislation dealing with the ending of electric rate caps in 2010 is a more important issue.

Secretary McGinty also said a $300,000 program to provide grants to municipalities to develop local greenhouse gas reduction plans would be soon soliciting applications.

Abandoned Mine Reclamation: Sen. Ray Musto (D-Luzerne), Rep. David Reed (R-Indiana) and Rep. Brian Ellis (R-Butler) asked about the status of plans to spend the increased funding the state will receive from the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation fund. Secretary McGinty said they have not yet finished consulting with focus groups about the most efficient use of the monies, but expected to issue a report soon covering recommendations made by these groups and during public meetings last year. DEP was also considering setting up a special operation and maintenance fund for passive mine drainage treatment systems.

In response to a question from Rep. Ellis about the need for legislation to specify the use of federal AML funds, Secretary McGinty said she thought it might be a good idea, especially for setting up a plan to create an operation and maintenance fund. She said they would be bringing the recommendations back to the General Assembly for guidance.

Chesapeake Bay Cleanup: Senators Pat Vance (R-Cumberland), John Wozniak (D-Cambria), John Gordner (R-Columbia), Jake Corman (R-Centre), Roger Madigan (R-Bradford), Ray Musto (D-Luzerne) and Jim Rhoades (R-Schuylkill) as well as Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Mifflin), Rep. Katie True (R-Lancaster) and Rep. Gordon Denlinger (R-Lancaster) all expressed concern about the pending $1 billion cost for wastewater plants to meet the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy cleanup requirements and the lack of a funding plan from the Governor to meet those needs.

Secretary McGinty said the Governor last week created a special task force, like he did for transportation funding, to study the issue of not only the infrastructure needs for complying with the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, but the over $20 billion water and wastewater infrastructure needs statewide, including combined sewer overflows.

Sen. Corman commented that he would like to see much more enthusiasm from the Governor on this issue, noting he held press conferences and rallies in Philadelphia on mass transit funding, but he does not see that on the Bay issue.

A number of Senators pointed to the urgent need to deal with the Chesapeake Bay issue now because of the short 3-year window that wastewater plants have to meet these requirements. (See separate article: Bill for Upgrades at PA Water Plants Creates Sticker Shock)

Budget Secretary Michael Masch told the House Appropriations Committee later in the week the Governor will announce additional steps to deal with the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy funding issue in the "next few weeks," but would not go further so as not to preempt his announcement.

He also said there are some wastewater systems that have not taken the steps they should have to implement upgrades and any plan should not reward those systems for not doing what they should have. In addition, he said private companies have taken over some systems and have an ability to tap private financing to meet their upgrade requirements.

Conservation District Funding: Sen. Pat Vance (R-Cumberland), Rep. Ron Miller (R-York) and many other Senators and House members asked why the Rendell Administration cut funding for conservation districts when districts were being called on to do more, including help farmers with conservation work so they can devote more acreage to crops going into biofuels. Secretary McGinty said they proposed the same budget number this year as last year. Quoting from the budget document Sen. Vance noted the Governor proposed $3.1 million, a cut of $3.6 million from last year.

Water Resources Plan: Sen. Stuart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery) requested the status of the state’s Water Resources Plan. Secretary McGinty said by March 18, the statutory deadline, DEP will deliver copies of a water resource atlas for each of the regions outlined in Act 220 along with a water resource budgeting tool that will help guide decision makers as they look at ways to meet water demands in the future. She said she agreed with the regional advisory committees that much more work remains to be done on the plan.

Delaware River Flooding: Rep. John Siptroth (D-Monroe) and Rep. Mario Scavello (R-Monroe) expressed concern about the management of New York City reservoirs in the upper Delaware River that their constituents believe do not keep enough reserve capacity to store flood waters in times of heavy rains. The House members said the reservoirs are at or near 100 percent capacity when Pennsylvania expects more heavy rain.

Secretary McGinty said the Delaware River Basin Commission’s new flexible river management program will allow better management of the river to reduce flooding. She added that DEP was proposing changes to Chapter 102 regulations to require stream buffers that will help protect floodplains and the proposed Governor’s budget initiative to help provide updated floodplain maps.

Wind Mill Siting Criteria: Sen. John Wozniak (D-Cambria) and Sen. Ray Musto (D-Luzerne) asked if DEP supported creating siting criteria for wind mill farms like is done for municipal waste landfills, citing concerns in a number of counties. Secretary McGinty said DEP worked with a variety of groups to develop a model ordinance local governments can use to help control the local impacts of wind farms and that the Governor was reluctant to overrule local governments in the siting issue. For these reasons she was opposed to having statewide siting criteria.

Low-Level Radioactive Waste: Sen. Jim Rhoades (R-Schuylkill) raised a concern over the closure of the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal facility on June 30, 2008 to waste generated in Pennsylvania and many other states and asked DEP what it plans to do. (In 2006, Pennsylvania sent 1,981.1 cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste to Barnwell and 55,646 cubic feet to Energy Solutions in Washington.) Secretary McGinty said they are working to find alternatives.

Electric Rate Caps: In response to several questions about energy legislation, Secretary McGinty said the expiration of electric rate caps in 2010 is an “economic train wreck waiting to happen.” She said the General Assembly should adopt a least cost rates policy rather than continue with prevailing market rates which she said amounted to letting electric companies charge whatever they want to charge.

Secretary McGinty also told the House Committee she supports legislation sponsored by Rep. McCall (D-Carbon)—House Bill 2201-- that provides a “glide path” to transition to market rates without the need for extending electric rate caps. However, if the General Assembly does not act soon, the Secretary said she could see a scenario where caps could be extended to allow more time to act.

Use of Coal/Carbon Sequestration: In response to a question from Sen. Jim Rhoades (R-Schuylkill) asking if Secretary McGinty was quoted accurately in a news article saying “we need to find ways not to burn goal,” the Secretary said the article was full of errors. She said she supports finding ways of using coal cleanly, including coal gasification and using carbon sequestration technology. She noted Pennsylvania’s geology could be a good reservoir for carbon dioxide stripped from coal plant emissions.

Environmental Justice: In response to a question by Rep. Jake Wheatley (D-Allegheny), Secretary McGinty said DEP will be holding an environmental justice summit sponsored by the agency’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board.

Trash Cleanups: Sen. Jim Rhoades (R-Schuylkill) urged DEP to continue its support for rural cleanup efforts like COALS and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful initiatives which he said he and other legislators supported with legislative initiative funds in the past. Secretary McGinty said she would continue to support these activities.

A copy of Secretary McGinty’s testimony is available online.

The Senate and House have now completed their initial schedule of agency budget hearings. Several additional hearings will be held, including the Department of Transportation, so watch Calendar of Events as they are scheduled.

Link: Senate Republican Budget Hearing Summaries/Hearing Videos

3/7/2008