HARRISBURG, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) today congratulated Richard J. Allan on his nomination as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) by Governor Tom Corbett, and urged Allan to zealously enforce the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution, and be a watchdog to preserve and protect the state’s environment and the economy it sustains.
“Rick Allan is inheriting a department that has made excellence its watchword – and is lauded worldwide for it,” said Jan Jarrett, PennFuture’s president and CEO. “DCNR is recognized for having the best managed park system in the nation – which returns $10 to local economies for every $1 invested by the Commonwealth. Just last year, Pennsylvania’s state parks hosted more than 38 million visitors, all of whom spent money in the communities surrounding the parks.
“DCNR also manages the first and longest certified sustainable public forest in the U.S.,” continued Jarrett. “This certification is vital to the 3,000 businesses and 90,000 Pennsylvanian who work in the forest products industry – a full 10 percent of our state’s manufacturing workforce. DCNR also is the national model for using conservation to grow local economies, and for outdoor recreation planning. DCNR also created the first state digital map in the nation, which is used extensively by business and industry, local planners, and community organizations.
“But DCNR’s work, and our natural resources, are at risk right now,” said Jarrett. “While the governor hasn’t proposed more new Marcellus Shale drilling leases in our state forests, we don’t own the mineral rights in our parks, and DCNR must zealously protect these special places. And the governor is also proposing to reduce DCNR’s budget, and make it more reliant on money from drilling leases, a bad omen for the future.
“Rick Allan has an opportunity to be the people’s watchdog within our state government, and protect and promote Pennsylvania’s beautiful environment, and the jobs and local economies that rely on those natural places,” concluded Jarrett.
PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization that advances policies to protect and improve the state’s environment and economy. PennFuture has experts and attorneys, outreach workers and communicators, lobbyists and educators, all working with local groups and citizens across the state to adopt and enforce great public policy. The PennFuture motto is “Every environmental victory grows the economy.” The Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture the state’s “leading environmental advocacy organization.”