There shall continue to be maintained from the income received in administering section 22a-314, an equipment account, which shall be a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund, for the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection. The commissioner may use said account for the purchase and maintenance of equipment, provided no single article of equipment shall be purchased from said account at a cost of more than one thousand dollars without the approval of the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may at his discretion make state equipment available to any soil and water conservation district.