No New Forest Leases in Corbett's Budget

Environmentalists worried that Corbett would try to help balance the state’s budget by selling off more mineral rights on state land can breathe a sigh of relief. The Governor’s proposed budget has no new revenues coming in from lease bonus payments. In fact, the revenue from mineral leases is projected to go down significantly. That’s partly due to a continued moratorium on new state forest leases, but also, the price of gas has hit record lows, meaning much less in royalty payments from drillers.
That’s the good news. The bad news? No funds proposed for forest regeneration, forestry research or the Keystone Park and Recreation Fund. Former DCNR chief John Quigley says that means the department would have no money to give grants. “No grants to communities,” says Quigley.  “No reinvestment in parks and forests, no grants to landtrusts in Southeast Pennsylvania to protect open space. None. Zero.”
Corbett’s budget proposes the approximately $46 million from real estate transfer taxes that had gone to the Keystone Fund in the past, to go into the general fund.

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