Pennsylvania: Forest destroying revenue allows state to Invest in “green” infrastructure?

A chance for Pa. to invest in its green infrastructure? The opening of
our publicly owned forests to drilling by private companies for
Marcellus shale natural gas recently generated $190 million for the
state’s Oil and Gas Lease Fund. Through seven recessions and five
decades, the Oil and Gas Lease Fund has supported conservation,
recreation, dams and flood-control projects. The $190 million influx
to the fund provides the governor with a golden opportunity to make
job-creating capital investments in Pennsylvania’s green
infrastructure.

Our state parks and forests are badly in need of these
investments. The governor could contract with Pennsylvania companies
to repair and replace old dams, improve trails, clean up damage from
past drilling and mining, restore floodplains and wildlife habitat,
rebuild roads and parking lots, and insulate and upgrade buildings.
These infrastructure investments would build on the long-standing
achievements of the 1930s’ Civilian Conservation Corps, benefiting
Pennsylvanians for generations to come. Most immediately, our economy
would benefit from the construction work and the associated jobs that
would be created. The commonwealth’s recreational, sporting and
tourism businesses also would benefit, preserving many service-sector
jobs. When the General Assembly created the Oil and Gas Lease Fund in
1955, our leaders adopted a farsighted policy of taking the money from
the sale of nonrenewable oil and gas resources owned by the state and
reinvesting this money in public conservation assets that would last
for generations. They established a funding stream to reinvest in the
magnificent system of public conservation lands they inherited from
their predecessors. They showed respect for the generations yet to
come who deserved to inherit more than empty gas wells and degraded
public lands. Fifty-three years of honorable precedence may come to a
close with Rendell’s proposal to redirect the Oil and Gas Leasing Fund
to support the day-to-day operations of government. I urge the
governor to reconsider. I do this as a father who wants his children
and grandchildren to inherit a public park and forest system
undiminished and hopefully stronger than the one I received. I also do
this as part of a coalition of tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians,
working through 80 charitable community organizations, who want to
conserve Pennsylvania’s special places and build sustainable
economies. The state’s Growing Greener 2 bonds are all but spent. The
state’s Environmental Stewardship Fund has been drained to pay debt
service on the Growing Greener 2 bonds. The state’s Keystone
Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, supported with realty transfer
taxes, has dried up. In short, the state’s resources for reinvesting
in our parks, forests and other green infrastructure have evaporated
just when public-works efforts could be most beneficial to the
economy. The Oil and Gas Leasing Fund, because of the exploitation of
our publicly owned forests for Marcellus shale natural gas, is the one
exception. Our green infrastructure and economy need this funding.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081223_A_chance_for_Pa__to_invest_in_its_green_infrastructure.html

Posted via email from Deane’s posterous