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Quigley Confirmed As DCNR Secretary, More Drilling On State Forest Land Likely
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John Quigley was unanimously confirmed as the third Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, but not before hearing the Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Committee say more natural gas drilling on State Forest land may be needed to balance the budget. "It is my honor to serve the public as DCNR Secretary, working side by side with the women and men of the department as we continue to meet our mission of managing the best state park system in the country and one of the largest sustainable state forests in the nation, as well as tirelessly advocating for conservation and outdoor recreation,” Secretary Quigley said. “While the economic climate has thrown us some challenges, we will continue to look for innovative ways to do our work more efficiently and effectively, while continuing to protect our irreplaceable natural assets.”
Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango), Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, questioned Quigley in a Committee hearing before the full Senate confirmation vote asking him if he understood there was a commitment to produce $180 million from State Forest gas leasing to help balance this year's budget and he said he did.
Quigley noted the 32,000 acre gas leasing done so far this year brought in $68 million more than anticipated, so that will be counted against the $180 million owed the state budget for FY 2010-11.
Sen. White then commented with the budget deficit from the current fiscal year now expected to be $1 billion, leasing more State Forest land may be needed to help further reduce the state deficit. She said as much as 48,000 more State Forest land, or more, may have to be leased.
Quigley said Gov. Rendell's position on leasing has been to lease the least amount of land to hit the revenue target and noted leasing more State Forest land beyond the 48,000 acres could get into environmentally sensitive areas of forest land holdings.
In response to a question from Sen. Don White (R-Indiana) about placing a moratorium on further State Forest leasing, Secretary Quigley said he believes DCNR needs to reduce the possibility of negative impacts on State Forest land and balance a reasonable amount of drilling against the revenue needs of the Commonwealth.
Also in questioning before the Committee, Secretary Quigley said again he support a natural gas production severance tax to bring in revenue for the state, although members, like Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford) said much work had to be done on any severance tax proposal to make sure the funds were returned to the communities where the drilling impacts are being felt. Several Senators on the Committee expressed concerns about the potential of closing State Parks during the current budget shortfalls and expressed irritation DCNR last year threatened to close several dozen parks if funding was not adequate.
Secretary Quigley said the threats last year were not idle ones and only drastic cuts in services offered at State Parks and the Governor's infusion of $1.7 million from the Oil and Gas Fund prevented parks from closing. He said cuts below those included in the Governor's recommended FY 2010-11 budget would be very problematic.
Sen. Ray Musto (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Committee, asked whether DCNR still had plans to complete a risk assessment and cost evaluation on developing a carbon sequestration project on state lands. Quigley said the issue was not technology or feasibility, because Pennsylvania has the right kind of geology to support a sequestration project. The issue is one of property rights.
More than 100 square miles of land with the right kind of geology would be needed to support a sequestration project for the live of a large coal-fired power plant. With hundreds or thousands of property owners covering such a large area, the task of assembling those rights would be extremely difficult.
A video of the hearing is available online. NewsClips: Senate Confirmation Vote Nearing On DCNR Chief Related Stories
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4/19/2010 |
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