Growing Greener Provides
$625 Million
for Environmental
Improvements
Conservation in Pennsylvania is receiving an infusion of $625 million in state funding over the next six years through newly enacted Growing Greener II legislation. Championed by Governor Ed Rendell, with bipartisan support from the state legislature, Growing Greener provides government funding for watershed protection, abandoned mine drainage remediation and mine cleanup, oil and gas well plugging, advanced energy projects, flood protection, brownfield remediation, improvements to state parks and state forests, open space and farmland preservation, and Main Street and downtown redevelopment.
Growing Greener is the largest single investment of state funds to protect and restore our environment in Pennsylvania’s history. Growing Greener II expands the original Growing Greener plan implemented in 1999 by Governor Tom Ridge and provides funding for the program through 2011. The funds will be distributed through several state agencies, including the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Efforts to secure this funding included passage of a statewide referendum on the May 2005 primary ballot. This landmark referendum became possible through the bipartisan efforts of the legislature, the Governor’s office, state agencies and a broad coalition of conservation and environmental organizations, including Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
Our work was rewarded with a voter approval of more than 60 percent for the referendum. During the legislature’s budget process, provisions were enacted for borrowing, allocating and paying back the funds.
Growing Greener On-the-Ground
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has been a Growing Greener grant recipient since the program’s inception. WPC has received more than $3 million to support key conservation initiatives. We have leveraged this support to involve federal and private funds, as well as thousands of volunteers, resulting in enormous resources at work in western Pennsylvania for conservation.
WPC’s Watershed Assistance Center, established with Growing Greener support, is just one example of the environmental impact of this funding. This center, which provides technical assistance to grassroots watershed groups, has already conducted 25 watershed conservation and improvement projects. These efforts laid the groundwork for long-term environmental improvements, such as...
Sandy Lick (Creek) Conservation Initiative in Jefferson County received WPC help in planning and implementing restoration initiatives in their watershed, including training volunteers to conduct a watershed assessment.
Crooked Creek Watershed Association in Armstrong County has been revived with a new Watershed Conservation Plan with the support of WPC, and has attracted new, energetic volunteers to take on major restoration projects.
Blacklegs Creek Watershed Association and Cooperative Trout Nursery in Indiana County shifted their focus from stocking trout in Blacklegs Creek, a stream affected by abandoned mine drainage (AMD), to addressing stream restoration with the construction of the Kolb AMD Treatment Facility. Through their work, the group will be able to stock trout for the entire length of the stream and open several new miles to trout fishing.
Pennsylvania’s Need for Growing Greener Funding
- Pennsylvania ranks first in the nation in toxins discharged into rivers and streams, which are the source of drinking water for three-quarters of the state.
- Polluted water from abandoned coal mines is Pennsylvania’s number one source of water pollution.
- Drainage from abandoned mines has made more than 3,000 miles of Pennsylvania streams unfit for fishing and swimming. With more than 250,000 acres of abandoned mines, it costs approximately $50,000 to clean-up a single mile of stream.
- Pennsylvania is conserving one acre of land for every three acres that are developed, and every day 300 acres of land are lost to unchecked sprawl.
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