THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140294
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Since 1992, Virginia motorists have paid nearly $600,000 for colorful license plates to help finance state environmental projects. But not a crab or an oyster has benefited.
The money is sitting idle in two state-controlled funds, while environmental groups and the Allen administration debate how and when to use the money.
``We just haven't used it yet,'' said Ray Davis, director of administration for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which holds $186,000 raised from the sale of three plates dedicated to conserving wildlife.
Davis and others said the change in administrations in Richmond, combined with bureaucratic discrepancies over the funds, are two reasons for the lapse.
The disclosure brought a mix of wry chuckles and angry snarls from environmentalists, and caused at least one person to think twice about buying the plates.
``I feel very strongly about the Chesapeake Bay, but I wanted to first see where my money would be going. So I started making some calls,'' said Susan Taylor Hansen, a Portsmouth environmental attorney.
After discovering that the money was inactive, Hansen decided to wait. ``It just didn't seem right. Not yet, at least,'' she said.
In response, environmental groups are rallying behind a bill that would force the state over the next two years to spend $300,000 of that idle money on projects benefiting the Bay.
``We're really trying to expedite what's been an extremely slow process,'' said Jeniffer Maloney, of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Richmond. ``We want to make sure these monies at least go to the obvious needs, because they need attention now.''
Under the bill sponsored by a host of Republicans - including Sens. Frederick M. Quayle, R-Chesapeake, and Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach - a nine-member advisory committee also would be established to recommend needy projects related to Bay restoration.
The bill passed the full Senate and House after much debate last week and will be heard in respective committees again today.
The secretary of natural resources, Becky Norton Dunlop, opposes the measure.
Dunlop doesn't want to ``create more bureaucracy'' and believes an existing committee within state government can administer the funds, said spokeswoman Julie Overy.
``The legislature sees another pot of money and, no matter how small, wants to get a hold on it,'' Overy said. ``There's a ton of committees in the Bay program that could handle this.''
Pamphlets printed by the state in 1993 which advertise the ``Friend of the Chesapeake Bay'' plate tell motorists that an advisory committee will decide where their donations will go.
But that committee has never been formed. Maloney and others say this failure is a big reason that some $365,000 raised by Bay plate sales has not been spent.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles began selling four conservation plates in 1992 for $25 a year, $15 of which goes to reserve accounts for environmental projects, said Jeanne Shenault, DMV spokeswoman. The remainder covers all costs of making and managing the plates.
The Bay plate, adorned with drawings of a blue crab and Bay grasses, is by far the most popular of the four. Indeed, the plate has generated an additional $185,000 this fiscal year, which soon will be added to the $365,000 sitting in the state-controlled Bay Restoration Fund.
Motorists also can choose one of three wildlife-conservation plates. They show either a mallard duck, a sport fish or a white-tailed deer.
Dunlop, during a December speech in Williamsburg, offered a much different plan for spending the proceeds.
She suggested that 70 percent of the money be used as grants to local soil and water conservation districts - even those in western Virginia, where activities have little impact on the Bay.
To apply for a grant, a local district would have to show how its proposed project would either help the Bay or spread environmental education, Overy said.
The other 30 percent would go for ``larger, multijurisdictional projects,'' Overy said, which would be designed and approved by ``all appointed members of all various boards.''
Environmental groups shudder at the proposal, saying they fear the real motivation is to soften proposed budget cuts to local water and conservation districts.
Further, activists in Richmond note the irony of Virginia failing to spend license-plate money earmarked for the environment while Gov. George F. Allen is arguing that the state spends too much on conservation programs.
But representatives of these districts, who face an estimated $1.8 million in cuts that the Allen administration wants this year, welcome her idea.
``They're anxious to take her up on her offer,'' said Jack Frye, director of the division of soil and water conservation, an arm of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
According to the bill now weaving its way through the General Assembly, Dunlop would get only part of her wish. In fiscal year 1995-96, $100,000 is earmarked for grants to local soil and water conservation districts.
During this budget year, $125,000 from the Bay-plate fund would go for greater public access to the Bay and for more fish passages, the bill says.
Also, $50,000 would be handed out as grants for shoreline-erosion projects, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science would receive $25,000 to accelerate oyster aquaculture.
As for the wildlife conservation fund, no legislation is proposed for its contents. Instead, officials said they intend to brainstorm for possible expenditures in the coming months. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Since 1992, this Chesapeake Bay license plate has raised $365,000.
Three wildlife conservation plates have raised $186,000.
KEYWORDS: LICENSE PLATES CHESAPEAKE BAY ECOLOGY by CNB