NATION & WORLD
W.Y. revenue projections down $100 million
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Sagging
natural gas prices could force Wyoming lawmakers to impose spending cuts on state agencies in the legislative session that starts next month, Gov. Matt Mead said Jan. 13. Mead announced Jan. 13 that the latest state reve- nue projections for the two-year budget cycle that begins next July are more than $100 million less than the state anticipated in its last revenue pro- jection released in October. Mead in Decem-
ber proposed a $3.4 billion state funds budget for the biennium that called for leaving more than $87 unap- propriated for legislators to spend as they saw fi t. But Jan. 13’s revenue projections from the state’s Consensus Revenue Esti- mating Group wipes out that extra fund-
ing and still leaves Mead’s proposed bud- get more than $20 million underwater. The lower revenue projections height- en the likelihood that state lawmakers will push state agencies for cuts to their existing budgets. The Joint Appropria- tions Committee is in the middle of two weeks of hearings on state agency budget requests. The com- mittee chairmen, Rep. Rosie Berger, R-Big Horn,
and
Sen. Phil Nicho- las, R-Laramie, last
year wrote to state agencies asking them to come to hearings pre- pared for budget cuts of 2, 5
and 8 percent. “The fact is, because natural gas pric-
es continue to fall, all of us are going to have to take a strong look at the budget,” Mead said Jan. 13.
Thursday, January 19, 2012 ■ Page 15
Valero won’t appeal Texas tax break rejection
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Valero En-
ergy Corp. will not appeal the Texas en- vironmental agency’s rejection of its re- quest for a large tax break and potential $92 million refund at six Texas refi neries, a company spokesman said Jan. 10. The San Antonio-based energy giant had hoped for a tax exemption for equip- ment installed at the refi neries to remove sulfur dioxide from crude oil. However, the company decided not to appeal the rejection of its request by the Texas Com- mission on Environmental Quality, Vale- ro spokesman Bill Day said. Valero had no comment on its deci-
sion, he said. Valero had until Jan. 10 to appeal the
TCEQ rejection of requests Valero fi rst made in 2007. Valero had argued that the hydrotreater equipment should be exempt because it helps reduce pollution, and Texas grants tax breaks to companies that install pollution-reducing equip- ment at its plants. The rule is designed to encourage them to make expensive up- grades at old, dirty plants and refi neries. The hydrotreaters were installed after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen-
cy in 2006 began requiring refi neries to remove sulfur dioxide from crude oil. In rejecting Valero’s initial request, the
TCEQ stated the pollution reductions were being enjoyed in other regions, not where the refi neries are located. Valero appealed and the commissioners asked the agency’s staff to consider a partial re- jection. That, too, the TCEQ rejected. Valero was among the nation’s larg-
est oil refi neries seeking huge tax refunds that could cause school districts and local governments across Texas to return tens of millions of dollars. Consequently, Texas school district
and municipal offi cials had long opposed the requests. School districts were espe- cially concerned because if a refund had been granted it would have come on the heels of a $4 billion cut in state funding to public schools. The TCEQ, a three-member commis- sion appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, is evaluating 16 refund requests that could add up to more than $135 million, according to county tax data and application documents analyzed by The Associated Press.
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