The good news in this year’s budget is the General Assembly approved a $1.2 billion water infrastructure funding program and a $650 million renewable energy program.

The General Assembly also approved a string of landmark legislation to create a Climate Change Action Plan for the Commonwealth, updated the state’s Deep Mine Safety law for the first time in over 45 years, formally established the PA Center for Environmental Education in law, updated the county conservation district law and adopted the Great Lakes water resources Compact. (See separate stories)

The bad news is $15 million of the Recycling Fund was transferred to the General Fund to balance the budget and $28.2 million was taken away from the Environmental Stewardship Fund and watershed cleanup to pay debt service for the Growing Greener II bond issue.

In prior years, monies from the Environmental Stewardship Fund were diverted not only to pay debt service, but $50 million was used to fund the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program. (7/11/05 Pa Environment Digest)

Last year Gov. Rendell and legislative leaders were stopped from using $40 million from DCNR’s Keystone Recreation, Parks and Conservation Fund when they tried to use that to finance the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program. (7/15/07 Pa Environment Digest)

The General Assembly and the Governor also choose not to address the more than $600 million needed by family farmers to meet federal and state nutrient and sediment reduction requirements. (See separate article)

Just getting the environmental line items to where they are now in the final budget this year—for county conservation districts and in the Department of Agriculture budget-- took extraordinary work and support from individual members of the General Assembly, especially given the way this year’s budget was negotiated.

The starting point for budget talks was the budget proposed by the Governor (and largely passed by the Senate) that made significant cuts in all line items. The Governor made matters more difficult by lowering those numbers even more with a 1.3 percent across-the-board line item budget cut.

That starting point forced individual legislators to “buy back” the line items they wanted from funds allocated to each Caucus or from cuts in other places.

So just to get where these numbers are now took thousands of phone calls, faxes and emails from the 40 member organizations of the Fair Share Clean Water Plan Coalition’s grassroots.

At the same time the final budget was adopted, both Senate Republicans and Democrats warned of a looming $1- $2 billion budget deficit in the new budget they just approved, if state revenues continue to decline.

That warning has ominous implications for environmental funding in 2009-10.

Funding for a variety of projects under the Growing Greener II bond issue has run out or will run out shortly and nearly all of the money in the Environmental Stewardship Fund, financed by a $4 fee on each ton of municipal waste, will be earmarked to pay the debt service for that bond issue.

Here are some other highlights from this year’s budget—

Department of Environmental Protection

· $2.9 million increase for community flood protection

· $11.7 million for drinking water, wastewater projects

· $940,000 decrease in Black Fly Spraying

· $400,000 decrease to Delaware River Basin Commission

· $200,000 decrease to Susquehanna River Basin Commission

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

· $2.3 million infrastructure initiative mapping

· $1.3 million decrease in Heritage Parks Program

A summary of the budget is available online and an agency and line item summary spreadsheet is also available online

NewsClips: Budget Passes; Education, Energy Get More

Environment, Energy Programs Part of State Budget

7/4/2008