Dec 5, 2004 By Rick Martinez For The 6 min read

HARRISBURG – So who, or what, killed Growing Greener II, Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposal to spend $800 million on the environment? That question brings a growl from state Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery), who said the plan may be delayed and end up being half of what the governor wants, but that it is emphatically not dead.

“We don’t have to get it done until February, and it will be done,” said Harper, who was re-elected to a third term last month.

“We’re going to try and find the money.”

Surprisingly, for a plan the governor twice this year made his priority and twice failed to get the Legislature to vote on, there is widespread agreement that some type of Growing Greener proposal will be on the spring, or maybe fall, ballot.

“We need to get a plan that the governor can agree with and that the House and Senate will pass,” said Harper. “The size of his initiative didn’t get any support in the General Assembly. I think $500 million is more realistic.”

When last February Rendell proposed floating $800 million in bonds, he shared a vision of preserving farmland, saving open space, cleaning hazardous waste sites and sprucing up the state’s older towns.

The state would borrow $200 million a year for four years, with a large part of the debt paid for through higher fees on dumping at landfills and a new per ton charge on industries that emit toxic chemicals.

However, the governor’s June deadline came and went and no one in the Legislature even authored a bill on Growing Greener, a necessary step before it is put to voters in a statewide referendum.

At that time, the state director of the Sierra Club, Jeff Schmitt, was forgiving because he said environmentalists had a strong commitment from the governor that Growing Greener was “at the front of the pipeline” when lawmakers returned in the fall.

When lawmakers returned from summer break, Rendell did indeed say passing the environmental plan was a top priority before the two-year legislative session ended in November. Yet the session came and went and, again, there was no vote on Growing Greener.

Asked last week if he was disappointed with the governor, Schmitt said the state’s environmental community is not blaming Rendell. Instead, he said it’s the fault of Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

“They stalled the issue and the clock ran out. They don’t want to increase the fee on tipping or to ask toxic polluters to pay,” he said.

“Our sense is that the governor did his best.”

Schmitt offers that Republicans may have stalled on Growing Greener because they did not want a potentially popular environmental referendum on the ballot during the presidential race.

Harper calls such speculation “poppycock,” the result of too many politicos sitting around with too much time on their hands.

And Stephen Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Sam Smith (R-Jefferson), dismisses the idea with a wave of his hand.

Miskin said Growing Greener has not passed the Legislature because Rendell has been unfocused and consistently late in coming to the negotiating table. And, he faults Rendell for pulling the $800 million figure “out of thin air.”

“He wants his own money to pass around: Empty the fund in four years and then we spend the next 20 years paying it back,” Miskin said.

“Does anyone think it’s a good idea to make our grandchildren pay for this? Bonding is not pay as you go. It’s paying back double, triple the amount borrowed.”

Still, Miskin said it’s possible that when lawmakers return in February they’ll pass a bill to put the proposal before voters in the spring, or possibly fall. But just how much money would be borrowed is undecided, he said.

In the final days of the recent legislative session, Republicans were offering to spend around $250 million for Growing Greener. Rendell’s press secretary, Kate Philips, said the governor was willing to compromise by reducing his request by $100 million to $700 million.

Philips puts the blame for Growing Greener’s delay on Republican leaders in the House and Senate. She produced a July 4 letter written by Smith and Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill (R-Berks), in which the men seem to promise that a Growing Greener bill would be passed this fall so it could be put before voters in the spring.

Philips said there have been no negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders since the session ended Nov. 21.

As for what the governor may want to do differently to see action on what he says is a priority, she said wryly, “Knowing that would be as good as knowing the winning numbers for the next Powerball.”

House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg) also faults the GOP for the absence of a Growing Greener bill. DeWeese said the party’s cries about increased debt don’t jibe with their proposing over the past six years 17 bond issues totaling $5.3 billion.

“We understand that Republicans are playing the role of loyal opposition,” DeWeese said. “In the end, we hope their political rhetoric won’t stop Pennsylvania from moving forward with an agenda that will ensure that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can enjoy the environment as William Penn envisioned it in 1787.”

The key to passage may lie with the Green Ribbon Commission, a panel picked by the governor and legislative leaders to shepherd Growing Greener to the ballot. The commission’s co-chairman, William Adolph Jr. (R-Delaware), said Thursday another meeting has been set for late January, at which time he hopes they’ll come up with a dollar figure for the program.

Still unclear is whether the commission’s recommendation will include fees for toxic emissions and higher prices for landfill dumping, he said.

“If we can do it without those, I’d like to,” said Adolph, noting the waste management and manufacturing industries are vehemently opposed to the fees.

Just as important is making the bill’s language exact so voters know how many dollars would be going toward which environmental programs, he said.

For example, Adolph said in southeastern Pennsylvania there is a lot of support for open space preservation. While in other parts of the state, residents want money spent on mine reclamation.

Joe Minott, executive director of the Clean Air Council, said he hopes industries aren’t let off the hook because of their “knee-jerk reaction” to higher fees.

“It’s a standard response many polluting industries give as soon as anyone talks about forcing them to do things differently,” he said.

Like his Sierra Club ally, Minott does not blame the governor but the posturing down by both sides in the final days of the legislative session. He said he is disappointed that Rendell and the Legislature could not sit down and work through their differences.

But disappointment does not translate into surrender, according to Minott.

“The environmental community will not give up on this. It makes too much sense,” he said.

“I’m an eternal optimist. I think people can put down their petty political differences and get [Growing Greener] moving again.”

Rick Martinez can be reached at 717-705-6330 or rmartinez@calkins-media.com