Members of the Green Ribbon Commission continued to work on a more comprehensive environmental spending proposal this week, even as this year’s session ended.

Tuesday the Commission heard comments from the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the state Chamber of Business & Industry, the Electric Power Generation Association and the Waste Industries Association on pending environmental spending initiatives being considered by the Commission.

Commission members also received a summary of the environmental priorities each commissioner identified in response to the request from co-chairs Rep. Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) and Senator Mary Jo White (R-Venango) at the last meeting.

Chairman Adolph expressed the hope the Commission would finish its work in February in time to put a bond issue question on the Spring primary ballot. Gov. Rendell noted in a call-in program on the Pennsylvania Cable Network last Thursday that legislators had plenty of time to act to get an environmental spending proposal on the ballot and that it didn’t need to be done before adjournment.

The most frequent environmental spending priority identified by members of the Commission included: 1) restoring the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund; 2) preservation of open space; 3) preservation of farmland; 4) treating acid mine drainage; 5) recycling; 6) a tie between Watershed Protection, Crop Reserve Enhancement Program and funding Community Parks; 7) a tie between Energy Harvest, Fish & Boat Commission funding and water-wastewater improvements; and lastly 8) Green Energy Purchases and restoring the Act 339 wastewater operating subsidies.

The members were also polled on what mechanisms they favored for funding their priority programs. Generally, Democrats on the Commission favored the bond supported by waste and other fees and Republicans generally favored using the General Fund or broader funding sources since, they said, the benefits of these programs accrue to all Pennsylvania residents No surprise there!

The groups providing comments to the Commission said they favored the farmland preservation, watershed restoration, hazardous sites cleanup, recycling and other programs being discussed, but objected to the method of funding the programs that relied on a narrow group of industries, businesses or households footing the bill.

The Chamber noted the residual waste and Toxic Release Inventory fees would hit the struggling manufacturing sector especially hard at a time when they are competing with companies in other states and countries that do not have similar fees.

Electric generators noted the residual waste and Toxic Release Inventory fees for power plants would be imposed mainly on wastes that are the result of air pollution control and other processes designed to reduce their environmental impact. They said they were being punished with fees for doing the right thing—taking pollution out of the air and preventing it from getting into the water.

The Waste Industries Association pointed to examples where the increased fees would result in higher household waste collection bills that would be a particular hardship on senior citizens and others on fixed incomes. They also pointed out that many current longer-term waste disposal contracts do not provide for increases in disposal rates if government fees increase.

Vogel Disposal Service, Inc., a member of the Waste Association, said they have significant problems collecting the existing $4/ton Growing Greener fee from the state agencies like the departments of Transportation and Conservation and Natural Resources. In the case of PennDOT, Vogel had to go to court to collect the fee.

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors expressed an additional concern about collecting fees on municipal waste going to programs that do not benefit local governments. They recommended a broader base of funding to support these environmental initiatives.

Townships said they were also concerned about the potential economic dislocation associated with companies that may reduce or eliminate their operations in Pennsylvania as a result of increased costs due to the new fees.

NewsClips: Op-Ed: Growing Greener – And Smarter, Michael DiBerardinis

Op-Ed: We Need Growing Greener Now

11/21/2004