Sharing agency gas boon still aim
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
Legal questions remain regarding whether the Game and Fish Commission may share millions of dollars in natural gas proceeds with other state agencies, but state officials are kicking ideas around, and the possibility is still alive, officials said Wednesday.
Teresa Marks, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, said she met Monday with Jim Goodhart, the Game and Fish Commission general counsel who has questioned the legality of a revenuesharing plan proposed by other commission officials and Gov. Mike Beebe.
“It was just a general discussion about how we might be able to fulfill our obligations at [the Environmental Quality Department ] and how that might coincide with the [Game and Fish Commission ] mission to protect wildlife habitats,” Marks said.
Marks said that if the Game and Fish Commission gave her department some of the gas money to beef up inspections of natural gas drilling, her agency could train Game and Fish Com- mission employees to better spot environmental problems that could hurt animal habitats.
Such an arrangement may help resolve the legal issue, which is whether money from the sale of gas obtained by drilling on commission land or the lease of such land for drilling could be used for noncommission activities, said Marks, a former assistant attorney general.
But she cautioned that she doesn’t have an opinion about the legality of such revenue sharing because she has a background in consumer protection and antitrust law and isn’t a constitutional law expert.
Goodhart declined to offer a legal opinion on a potential arrangement with the Environmental Quality Department.
“I’m waiting for our commission to say what kind of projects they are going to pursue,” he said.
The commission meets today, but Goodhart said he didn’t know whether the gas leases would come up.
Beebe still favors sharing the money but wants to see a specific proposal before commenting on the legalities of it, said spokesman Matt DeCample.
The leases with Chesapeake Energy Corp., agreed to July 28 by the commission, are for $ 29. 5 million over five years. The royalty rate is 20 percent on gas sold.
The leases are for nearly 4, 000 acres in the Gulf Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Van Buren County and 7, 500 acres in the Petit Jean River Wildlife Management Area.
Goodhart has pointed to Amendment 35 of the state constitution, which established the commission and gave it considerable independence. He has said that for such revenue sharing, there must be a direct tie to the amendment’s purpose of “control, management, restoration, conservation and regulation of the birds, fish, and wildlife resources of the state.” He’s also pointed to a letter the Game and Fish Commission received from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Atlanta office in 2006. It said that since much of the wildlife management areas being leased were bought with federal grants, any proceeds must be spent on the “administration of the state game and fish wildlife agency.” If not, the commission could lose federal grants, the letter said.
The commission receives about $ 20 million a year in federal grants.
A contact listed on the letter didn’t return a telephone message Wednesday.
Goodhart said he’s not aware of the federal government ending grants to a state because of use of natural gas proceeds that were deemed improper. But he said similar questions have come up in other states.
“If the federal government believes there is a diversion of revenue, they would institute proceedings at the federal administrative level to cut us off [from grants ],” Goodhart said. “If we wanted to challenge it, we would do that administratively in the federal system. There are all kinds of political processes, so I can’t predict how it would affect anything.” Other Game and Fish Commission staff members have proposed several ways to spend the gas money, including giving some to the state Oil and Gas Commission to seal old wells.
Larry Bengal, director of the Oil and Gas Commission, said he’s heard no further proposals since the Game and Fish Commission signed the lease agreement and legal questions were raised.
“We’re just waiting for [the Game and Fish Commission ] to decide what they’re going to do,” Bengal said. He expected something would be worked out during the fall legislative budget hearings in preparation of the 2009 legislative session, which starts in January. Sen. Jim Hill, D-Nashville, cochairman of the legislative Game and Fish Subcommittee, said he wants to have a meeting on the gas money, which would probably be in September. “I’m sure wise minds will work it out,” he said. Hill said the Game and Fish Commission recently signed a contract with the state Forestry Commission whereby it will pay the Game and Fish Commission to help manage wildlife on Forestry Commission property. He said the Game and Fish Commission could agree to provide that service for $ 1, since they have plenty of new money from the gas leases.
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