The Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation lawsuit also singles out decisions made under Corbett’s predecessor, Ed Rendell, whose administration also diverted money from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund for the state’s general expenditures.
The Camp Hill-based group said both administrations used money from Marcellus Shale drilling leases and royalties on state forests for general government expenditures, in violation of a constitutional provision to conserve and maintain public resources.
The suit also cites a sweeping new natural gas drilling law signed last month by Corbett that would divert tens of millions of dollars a year from the fund for two environmental cleanup programs, one nicknamed Growing Greener and another called the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund. The total amount to be transferred reaches $50 million a year in 2016.
Read more.