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Pennsylvania Governor's Proposed Budget for DEP Keeps State Growing Greener, Thriving Economically

Posted on: Monday, 27 February 2006, 15:00 CST

HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty today told the House Appropriations Committee that DEP's 2006-07 budget builds on Governor Edward G. Rendell's commitment to use environmental protection as a driver for economic growth and job creation in Pennsylvania.

"When Governor Rendell took office three years ago, he declared that this department would be an engine of economic growth," McGinty said. "And indeed, DEP has been exactly that. We have led the effort to make Pennsylvania a national leader in energy. We have been instrumental in bringing hundreds of new jobs to communities across the state. And we have issued more permits at a quicker pace than ever before."

DEP's budget also includes $508,000 for underground mine safety and enhanced inspections through the Bureau of Mine Safety. The funding builds on Governor Rendell's proposed legislation to keep miners safe, modernize the state's outdated mine safety laws and keep pace with a rapidly changing industry.

The Governor directed the special inspection effort following the tragedies in West Virginia, where 16 miners have been killed since the beginning of the year. The enhanced inspections will be on top of all normal inspection activities, which continue as scheduled, and will focus on the state's bituminous, anthracite and industrial mineral underground mines.

Elsewhere, DEP issued a record 6,046 oil- and gas-drilling permits last year, a 32.4 percent increase over the previous record of 4,567 permits in 2004. DEP's Northwest Regional Office set an all-time high of 333 drilling applications last November, the largest number ever received by the department in any one-month period since the Oil and Gas Act of 1984.

Pennsylvania also is experiencing extraordinary growth in National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits related to construction projects. The number of NPDES permits issued by DEP doubled from 1,325 in 2002 to more than 2,625 last year -- a sign that the economy is thriving and investors see Pennsylvania as an attractive place to do business.

In just the last four months, DEP has increased its rate of review by more than 50 percent to address this surge in applications. The Governor's budget includes $330,000 to finance six new positions within DEP to help with engineering and technical support that will ensure prompt and effective reviews to ensure sustainable economic growth.

Governor Rendell's $625 million voter-approved Growing Greener II initiative -- the single largest environmental investment in Pennsylvania history -- provides continued funding to support efforts that clean up waterways, remediate mine lands, return abandoned industrial sites to productive use, and revitalize cities, towns and boroughs across the state.

Under Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program, the state has cleaned up 2,194 contaminated and abandoned industrial sites since 1995, including more than 900 in the last three years. These brownfield redevelopment projects have created or retained as many as 76,000 jobs, including 27,266 jobs since 2003.

The Governor's Brownfield Action Team is accelerating redevelopment deals and giving investors the incentive they need to clean up these sites and return them to productive use. Since being launched in 2004, BAT has helped 33 projects in 20 counties to redevelop more than 4,500 acres of brownfields; creating and retaining as many as 35,000 jobs.

"These environmental achievements help to stimulate the economy and create jobs," McGinty said.

Growing Greener II also provides $30 million in DEP's budget to shore up the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act Fund, which was on the brink of financial ruin last year. The funding enables critically important cleanup projects that were triaged to move forward.

Since 2003, DEP has cut its fleet of sports utility vehicles by 20 percent and reduced its staff complement by 4 percent while maintaining the core programs that protect public health and the environment. At the same time, the Governor's $667.6 million request enables DEP to continue advancing innovative measures that encourage new investment.

Part of this effort involves streamlining the regulatory process to ensure environment protection while eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy that makes it difficult to do business in Pennsylvania. DEP is reducing the time it takes to issue air plan approvals for new and expanding businesses and enabling developers simultaneously to satisfy state and federal environmental obligations for redevelopment projects that produce jobs.

"Waste of time, money and resources is in no one's interest," McGinty said.

Pennsylvania also is moving ahead to allow mine-scarred lands, what some call "greyfields," to be eligible for benefits similar to those now enjoyed by brownfield redevelopers. This has tremendous import for the commonwealth, which has more abandoned mines than any other state in the nation, and it promises to transform many of the state's coal communities into thriving commercial districts again.

Waste coal is being put to use as an energy source. Mine pool discharges are turning microturbines to make clean electricity and power the systems needed to treat the water. Companies are putting residents to work by developing technology to use metals recovered from acid mine drainage in paints and coatings, cement-based products, plastics, paper and mulch.

For more information about the budget and for copies of the secretary's remarks before the committee, visit DEP's Web site at http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/, Keyword: "Testimony."

CONTACT: Kurt Knaus

(717) 787-1323

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

CONTACT: Kurt Knaus, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection+1-717-787-1323

Web site: http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/

Source: PRNewswire

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