State officials, advocates ask Legislature to fund waterway protection | Five for the Weekend
Clean waterway advocates ask: ‘if not now, when?’
By Cassie Miller – Capital-Star
HARRISBURG, PA – With a finalized budget plan for the 2022-23 fiscal year due by June 30, state lawmakers, officials, and clean water advocates are calling on the General Assembly to allocate a portion of the $2.2 billion in unspent American Rescue Plan funds to protect Pennsylvania’s waterways.
“We are at a historic juncture in Pennsylvania, where we can choose to support vibrant parks, trails, clean waterways, healthy outdoor recreation opportunities and so much more on our public lands,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said in a statement earlier this week. “These are places where citizens can come together and relax, recreate and recover. Where the community and state economies benefit from the local jobs supported and the quality-of-life improvements. What better way to come together in bipartisan fashion to help restore our society and economy than by investing in a clean, healthy environment, green spaces, parks and trails. It is critical we invest in our natural spaces and set Penn’s Woods up for its brightest future.”
“Growing Greener III and the Clean Streams Fund need to be prioritized this summer as lawmakers debate a new fiscal spending plan,” a statement from PennFuture, an environmental advocacy organization, reads. “Those two proposals would direct $750 million towards clean water, conservation, and open space funding.”
State Rep. Lynda Schlegel-Culver, R-Northumberland, is the prime sponsor of HB 2020, which would replenish the commonwealth’s Growing Greener fund. The fund has financed efforts to address environmental concerns statewide since 1999, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
“More than 20 years after Gov. Tom Ridge signed the initial Growing Greener legislation into law, the program continues to positively impact Pennsylvania in so many ways,” Schlegel-Culver said. “But if we are to continue to enjoy benefits such as clean water, preserved farmland, recreational and employment opportunities and thriving communities, we must once again make necessary investments that allow that growth to carry on.”
