On the day the state legislature begins its 1998 session, environmental leaders called on Governor Paul Cellucci to adopt a "Green Budget" when he submits his first budget request as governor later this month.

At a Beacon Hill news conference (2:00 p.m., at the Appalachian Mountain Club, 5 Joy Street) the Environmental League of Massachusetts released its analysis of the state’s "Environmental Deficit." "For the last ten years under both prior administrations, funding for environmental programs has not kept up with the needs," said Jim Gomes, President of the Environmental League. "Governor Cellucci has the chance to cut away at this Environmental Deficit, and we hope he will."

The Environmental League’s analysis compared spending for state environmental programs with all other state spending for the last ten years. It found that environmental programs were not funded as well as state programs generally. Had environmental programs been as well funded as the average state program for this period, an additional $234 million would have been spent on a range of programs from hazardous waste site cleanups to state parks to recycling. Despite widespread popular concern about the environment, the state spent less than one cent out of every dollar of the state’s budget for the period from FY89 to FY98 on its environmental programs.

The ELM analysis also found that, despite many new environmental initiatives over the last decade -- including major new legislation on toxics, hazardous waste, watershed protection, rivers, and open space -- that state environmental budgets had lost more than $100 million in purchasing power over the ten years since FY89. "The environmental budget hasn’t even kept pace with inflation, let alone expanded to deal with the new problems and mandates," said ELM’s Gomes.

Environmental leaders called on Governor Cellucci and the legislature to adopt the "Green Budget" -- an array of additions to current environmental spending totaling $18.4 million (see attachment). "The Green Budget would add less than 1/10 of 1 per cent to the state budget as a whole but would make a big difference for our water, air, and land," said Bruce Berman, the Baywatcher from Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. "People in Massachusetts consider the environment a basic family value, and our state’s budget should reflect that."

"Governor Cellucci disappointed many people when he vetoed the Cape Cod Land Bank bill," said Susan Nickerson, Executive Director of the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod. "We hope he will see the Green Budget as an opportunity to show the people of Massachusetts that the environment really will be a priority for his administration."

Among the items in the Green Budget are:

* $3,000,000 in new funding for cities’ and towns’ recycling efforts;

* $500,000 for staffing of the parks of Boston’s Harbor Islands;

* $1,000,000 for hazardous waste cleanups, inspections, and emergency response;

* $200,000 for monitoring of coastal and beach area for fecal coliform;

* $1,350,000 for 30 more environmental police officers

Said ELM’s Gomes, "Just look at the state’s Environmental Police. The trend in law enforcement nationally is to put more cops on the beat. Just yesterday, the MBTA announced that they are increasing from 18 to 114 police. Meanwhile, the Environmental Police has lost almost a quarter of its force, dropping from 130 to 100 officers to cover the whole state. That’s no way to protect against midnight dumping, vandalism in the parks, or contaminated shellfish."

A host of organizations, including the Appalachian Mountain Club, Historic Massachusetts, MASSPIRG, Massachusetts Audubon, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and the Sudbury Valley Trustees, also spoke out in support of needed funding for environmental programs. "The Environmental Deficit is a chronic problem that has plagued Massachusetts for years," said George Wislocki, Executive Director of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council. "It’s time for the state to give environmental programs the attention and support they deserve."