Friday, June 12, 1998

Contact: Nam Kapur

617-742-2553

Boston - As the legislative Conference Committee meets to finalize the budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, environmental programs stand to gain approximately $10 million in funding. Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg (D-Amherst) and Representative Paul R. Haley (D-Weymouth), as chairmen of the respective Ways and Means Committees, have led the way in positioning the state’s environmental programs favorably as the budget process enters its final phase.

Rosenberg and Haley each turned out budget proposals containing strong new support for a variety of environmental programs. If jointly incorporated into the final budget, these allocations will mark an unprecedented commitment to reducing the "environmental deficit," the more than $100 million in spending power the state has lost over the last decade.

On the House side, the budget produced by Representative Haley’s committee included funding increases over last year’s budget for several crucial programs, including:

"We’re very happy to see this new funding for watershed and water quality monitoring," noted Kristen Phelps, Executive Director of the Fore River Watershed Association. "It sends a strong signal that the legislature is committed to protecting the Commonwealth’s wetlands and water resources."

In the Senate, Rosenberg was the architect of a budget which authorized funding for many programs which environmental groups across the state have highlighted over the past several months. These included:

Kevin Knobloch, Director of Conservation Programs for the Appalachian Mountain Club particularly praised the Senate’s adoption of additional funding for the ailing state parks system. "The funding will help lift our forests & parks to a level of excellence that Massachusetts deserves, and is a fitting way to commemorate the system’s 100th anniversary."

"The investment in watershed management and water quality monitoring initiatives the Senate recommended will pay big dividends in the form of the health of the state’s water resources," added Jerry Schoen, coordinator of the Massachusetts Water Watch Partnership (MWWP) based at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM), which has been leading a coalition in advocating for increased funding for state environmental programs, praised what each house had accomplished in developing the FY99 budget. "The combination of the funding proposed by Rosenberg and Haley are crucial to the protection of the Commonwealth’s air, land, and water resources. We are hopeful that the progress both houses have made on funding environmental programs will be maintained in the conference report that emerges from their deliberations. said Namrita Kapur, ELM’s legislative director.