A New Hampshire company official is calling it a “mischaracterization” that nearly $51 million in loans are being described as a subsidy for the purchase of private timberlands across the region.
Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority approved two 1-percent interest loans last year and this year for The Lyme Timber Co. LP to buy more than 60,000 acres of private forest land in Cameron, Clinton, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter counties.
“In exchange for the financing, Lyme is delivering conservation outcomes that are of equivalent value to the financing,” James Hourdequin, managing director/ CEO of Lyme Timber, said in response to comments made by state Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, on Thursday.
Causer introduced a resolution that calls on Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to conduct a thorough audit of more than 100 nonpoint source management transactions approved by PENNVEST. Case in point, he said he has some grave concerns with approval of the transactions.
“It’s important to point out that these transactions are the first of their kind and involve over $50 million in public financing so I think it is imperative that we carefully review all necessary information to assess the legality of the transactions under Pennsylvania state law. This is exactly why we need a comprehensive audit of the transactions,” said Causer, who is the chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.
Hourdequin disagrees with Causer’s assessment.
“The donation of a conservation easement over 9,400 acres is by far the largest deliverable, followed by the acid mine drainage remediation, and the option rights secured by the Commonwealth for the conservation of an additional 50,000 acres,” he said.
What’s more, Hourdequin said concerns are being brought up now that were not raised after the first vote, or before or immediately after the second vote. The company has been open about the project from the start and found support from a variety of businesses and community representatives, he said.
Concerns over the project, however, led Causer to call for a public meeting of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee in March to obtain more information.
“Unfortunately, the public meeting resulted in many more questions than answers,” the legislator said. “Since our public meeting, even members of the PENNVEST board of directors have called for a special meeting of the board to further discuss these transactions.”
But the company followed the rules and “went through the application process that PENNVEST makes available to all,” Hourdequin said.
PENNVEST Executive Director Brion Johnson said that he and PENNVEST staff met with Causer before the Oct. 18, 2017, PENNVEST board meeting to talk about the project.
“Action on the Lyme Timber project was subsequently deferred by the board of directors to October 27, 2017, in order for the members to review additional information on the project,” he said.
Meanwhile, PENNVEST staff provided supplementary information, and in his understanding, Johnson said Lyme Timber talked directly to the impacted legislative members of the board.
The board gave unanimous approval for the loans Oct. 27 and Jan. 31.
“While reasonable people may disagree about PENNVEST’s mandate, Lyme believes that private businesses should be able to rely on commitments that are made by units of government, and that politicizing such commitments sends the wrong message to businesses looking to make investments that can benefit people and communities in the Commonwealth,” Hourdequin said.
