ANR leaders tell Natural Resources & Energy committee federal funds have expanded workload; committee selects clerk by voice vote

Leaders from the Agency of Natural Resources told the Natural Resources & Energy committee on Jan. 14 that the agency’s budget and staff have grown sharply because of new federal funding, and they outlined near-term priorities including water infrastructure, PFAS and emerging-contaminant response, dam safety, state lands stewardship and climate planning.

“For the record, I’m Julie Warren, the secretary of natural resources,” Secretary Julie Warren said as she opened the briefing and described a large increase in staff and appropriations that the agency is now administering.

Nut graf: The agency reported a staffing increase and a multi-hundred-million-dollar rise in its budget tied to federal programs. Committee members were offered briefings from the commissioners of the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife on how those resources and assignments are being managed across programs such as water investments, dam safety, fisheries and state lands.

Warren said the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has about 650 full-time employees, “about a 10% increase” from before the COVID pandemic, and that the governor’s proposed FY 2026 budget would show an ANR budget “in excess of $330,000,000.” She described that as roughly a 170% increase from the…