July 14, 2003

Natural Resources Funding Commission

On July 8, 2003, the Natural Resources Funding Commission, chaired by Natural Resources Secretary Tayloe Murphy, met for the second of three planned meetings. The meeting was held at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) – Central Office conference room. After more than 2 hours of presentations detailing the bleak financial condition of the Commonwealth’s natural resource programs, the 22-member commission seemed to agree that it needed to consider a number of revenue sources generating a large annual funding source. Specifically, in order to implement strategies associated with the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement, the Secretary’s office estimates that over $400 million will be required annually. Currently, the state has only several thousand dollars appropriated for this program, and the Water Quality Improvement Fund (established in 1997) is virtually depleted.

The Commission members generally agreed that its recommendations would need to be ambitious enough to generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually to meet the existing natural resource needs. Several funding mechanisms were discussed, including a state surcharge ($1) for each 1,000 gallons of wastewater discharged, a surcharge on water produced by local waterworks systems, and a surcharge on solid waste disposed of in landfills and incinerators. The Commission further discussed the concept of developing a “menu” of general broad fees on a number of activities that have environmental consequences, such as a special tax on retail sales of lawn fertilizers.

This menu will be included in the draft document that should be distributed at the next Commission meeting, scheduled for July 29, 2003. The meeting will be held at the 1st floor conference room at the DEQ – Central Office. The Commission is scheduled to submit its final funding recommendations to the Governor by September 1, 2003.

If you have any questions regarding this Bulletin, please contact us by email or at (804) 355-4520 (Richmond) or (336) 323-0092 (Greensboro).