When it comes to environmental issues, it often seems like a struggle between protecting nature and protecting the bottom line.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just made a decision that puts them on the same side — even if the state wouldn’t see it that way.
The court ruled that Pennsylvania can’t transfer money from the state Department of Conservation of Natural Resources’ Oil and Gas Fund into the general fund to help cover all the other costs the government racks up in the course of doing its job.
The Oil and Gas Fund is an account where money from natural gas drilling sits to wait uses like protection of natural resources. That why it’s in DCNR’s portfolio.
But from 2017 to 2019, the state moved $110 million to the general fund — essentially dumping it into the state’s checking account to be used for whatever bills are coming due.
On the one hand, this might seem like a smart move. If you have a bank account or a revenue stream in one area, why not use it to pick up the tab in an area in danger of running in the red?
The problem is that this is less like using money from your savings account to pay your mortgage than it is like using money from your kid’s college fund to pay your credit card bill. The cash might be sitting there doing nothing, but using it today means it won’t be available for its real purpose tomorrow.
The court’s reasoning was that the law as written doesn’t specifically give permission to use the fund for the general state spending.
Considering the way state law has allowed other interdepartmental looting, that is a good thing. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is raising the price of its tolls annually because of the millions of dollars it is roped into providing to PennDOT for non-turnpike-related expenditures like mass transit. Gas taxes are being used to pay for state police rather than fixing the roads they are supposed to fix.
This fund was created for a reason — and it’s not to funnel money into the general fund.
Pennsylvania has spent decades trying to reclaim its environment from the impact of coal mining on the land and water. The state’s natural beauty isn’t just a backdrop. It is an integral part of multiple areas of the economy, including tourism, recreation, hunting and its largest industry, agriculture.
Those are long-term needs that should be safeguarded instead of being put at risk to avoid a little fiscal responsibility.
