HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf is proposing a hike in the state waste disposal or tipping fee to help shore up environmental programs threatened by the sharp decline in natural gas prices.
However, Sen. John Blake, D-22, Archbald, said he would like to see a portion of any tipping fee increase revenue go to expand municipal trash recycling programs.
Blake and John Quigley, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, discussed the issue at last week’s Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing. The context for their discussion was the proposed expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore.
In his fiscal 2016-17 budget request, the governor called for a $1.75-a-ton increase in the tipping fee paid by landfill operators. If enacted by lawmakers, the fee would increase from $6.25 a ton to $8 a ton for municipal waste.
The total $8 fee would apply to waste from construction and demolition and residual waste left over from a treatment process, all of which are currently exempt, Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan said.
The governor wants to earmark an estimated $35 million in new revenue from the fee increase for the state Oil and Gas Fund. This fund is based on royalties paid by gas drillers for drilling wells on state gas forest land. The state Independent Fiscal Office estimates that revenues paid for Marcellus Shale wells on state forest land will decline by nearly 40 percent this fiscal year from the previous year. This is because of the drop in gas prices and resulting decline in drilling activity.
The $35 million earmark would enable the oil and gas fund to continue transferring money to support the state Environmental Stewardship Fund and Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, according to the budget proposal.
Blake said he is working on a proposal to earmark revenue from a tipping fee hike to expand recycling capacity.
It is part of his strategy to mitigate the impact of a Keystone landfill expansion.
Blake found that the lifespan and capacity of landfills is affected by the degree to which Pennsylvania recycles trash and landfills accept trash from other states.
Blake and Quigley agree on the need to update the 1988 state law that mandates recycling of household trash items in many larger municipalities.
Blake is looking at Act 101 in light of the proposed landfill expansion.
“I think it’s time to revisit it,” Quigley said.