HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf is considering a third round of funding for the nearly two-decade-old state Growing Greener program with an emphasis on improving water quality.
This proposal is not linked to Wolf’s state budget address next week and could surface later this month.
“I’m in favor of the state making an investment in the environment,” Wolf said Wednesday.
But he said the details of any third installment for Growing Greener — a program that has made an impact in Northeast Pennsylvania — are still being worked on.
The renewed focus on Growing Greener is tied to a new strategy to help Pennsylvania meet long-standing federal goals to reduce pollution and clean up the Chesapeake Bay. The strategy announced by the state Department of Environmental Protection last month focuses on reducing discharges of nitrogen and sediment into the Susquehanna River which flows into the Chesapeake.
Municipalities throughout the Susquehanna River Basin are affected by the Chesapeake cleanup program. The basin encompasses Northeast Pennsylvania except for Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties and slices of eastern Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. These areas are in the Delaware River Basin.
Sewer treatment plants in the Susquehanna basin contribute to Bay pollution, according to various studies.
DEP’s strategy calls for potentially providing several hundred million dollars for “local water quality issues and ultimately Bay compliance.”
The PA Environmental Digest blog, compiled by former DEP Secretary David Hess, identified the Growing Greener program as the proposed conduit. But additional Growing Greener funding could go for other environmental and energy programs as well.
The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, a Harrisburg think tank, called this week for a new Growing Greener round as part of the next state budget.
Based on DEP’s new strategy, the federal Environmental Protection Agency restored $3 million in federal aid Tuesday to help Pennsylvania farmers meet Susquehanna clean watershed goals.
“Pennsylvania was not on track to meet nutrient reduction targets, and EPA made clear in 2015 that it would withhold funding due to that lack of progress,” DEP Secretary John Quigley said.
Providing new funding for Growing Greener would benefit the region, Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Plymouth Township, ranking Democrat on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said. He mentioned reclamation of the Avondale mine pit in Luzerne County as a project benefiting from Growing Greener.
“We were able to take environmental disasters and turn them around because of the Growing Greener investment and create jobs,” Yudichak said.