Senator: Give other Ark. agencies natural gas cash
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—A state lawmaker said Tuesday that agencies not involved in wildlife protection should get a share of the $29.5 million the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will receive from leasing more than 11,500 acres to a natural gas firm.
The Game and Fish Commission said it will begin negotiations with two state agencies to use part of the lease money for environmental protection, but a deputy director of the agency said it would probably resist directing the money toward non-wildlife agencies.
Sen. Steve Faris said he'll again ask lawmakers to refer to voters a constitutional amendment allowing money raised from oil, gas and mineral deposits on land owned by the state Game and Fish Commission to the state's general revenues, rather than only for the commission's use.
"I'd just like to see the money spread around to other agencies that have needs," said Faris, D-Malvern. "It shouldn't just be tied to wildlife protection."
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission voted Monday to accept the terms of the leases with Chesapeake Energy Corp. in the Gulf Mountain and Petit Jean River wildlife management areas after taking bids on the opportunity to explore the lands. The leases will allow the Oklahoma City-based company to have access to more than 7,500 acres at Petit Jean River WMA in Yell County and nearly 4,000 acres at Gulf Mountain WMA in Van Buren County.
The leases also entitle the commission to a 20-percent royalty on any natural gas pumped from the sites, money that -- if it comes in -- will be used to improve state lands. The deal is the company's largest mineral-rights lease ever in Arkansas.
Game and Fish Deputy Director Loren Hitchcock said the commission is in negotiations with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the Oil and Gas Commission to direct some of the lease money to environmental-protection efforts in the area. Gov. Mike Beebe said he would continue pushing the commission to reach an agreement with the agencies.
As attorney general, Beebe issued a legal opinion in 2006 that said money the commission collects from the sale of mineral exploration and production on state lands can only be used for wildlife purposes. The opinion, which was requested by Faris, cited a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1996 that created a 1/8 cent sales tax for conservation and the 1944 amendment that created the commission.
Hitchcock said the commission has a memorandum of understanding with the state Department of Education that uses money collected from fines to pay for conservation education programs. Hitchcock said that agreement satisfied the constitutional requirement by funding programs related to wildlife.
Hitchcock said he believed his agency would be reluctant to use the funds for non-wildlife purposes.
"It would be a hard sell for us to stretch amendment 35 and say we'll help you build a prison in some county," Hitchcock said, referring to the amendment creating the agency. "I just don't think that would pass the taste of constitutionality under amendment 35."
Beebe indicated he would support changing the state constitution if it was needed to use some of the money for environmental protection and regulation by other agencies.
"If there is a legal obstacle to being able to have the interagency agreements we're talking about and they have contemplated, then it may indeed take statutory changes," Beebe told reporters.
Beebe said he was confident the commission would find ways to share the money with other agencies. He also said the commission still has to answer to lawmakers who have to appropriate the money collected from the lease.
"They're not stupid. ... This constitutional independence only goes so far because the Legislature still has to appropriate the money," Beebe said. "So, theoretically, the Legislature has to appropriate every dime of this lease money if they want to spend it."
Faris last year had proposed an identical constitutional amendment that would have moved money from natural gas deposits on Game and Fish lands to general revenues, but it ultimately was not endorsed by a legislative panel.
