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ARP for Water and Green Infrastructure

Open Letter to Members of the General Assembly
and Governor Wolf

June 2, 2021

 

Pennsylvania’s waterways need help. The American Rescue Plan can clearly play a major role in providing this assistance. At least $500 million (7%) of state government’s $7 billion share of Rescue money should be directed to our huge green infrastructure needs:

  • Billions of dollars in water investments are needed on a multitude of fronts to restore 25,468 miles of Pennsylvania waterways that are unsafe for drinking, swimming, and fishing.
  • Lack of investment in addressing stormwater management and flood prevention leave many Pennsylvanians highly vulnerable to loss of property, health, and life.
  • Farmers need help to implement conservation practices like forested stream buffers to keep soil and nutrients on the land instead of running into the water.
  • Untreated abandoned mine drainage, desolate abandoned mined lands, and uncapped oil and gas wells harm our water and drag down local economies.

Funding these needs out of the American Rescue Plan is a great fit:

  • These are lasting capital investments! They are not operational expenditures that have to be supported with state general funds after the federal money is gone.
  • Tens of millions of dollars in green infrastructure projects are shovel ready now. Many more can be ready in short order if money is made available.

The American Rescue Plan presents a momentous opportunity to begin addressing the Commonwealth’s enormous backlog of green infrastructure needs. In addition to water-related projects, other states are moving to invest more broadly in other green infrastructure needs. American Rescue Plan dollars might also be appropriate for addressing:

  • Our State Parks and Forests, which require nearly $1 billion in restoration and repair work.
  • Local parks and community open spaces that are seeing a surge (often doubling) in public usage and resulting wear-and-tear in this new era of increased interest in outdoor recreation.

American Rescue Plan dollars applied to green infrastructure would support myriad small businesses and good-paying jobs with them. Projects involve surveyors, appraisers, legal services, engineers, planners, drafters, environmental remediators, hydrologists, geologists, agricultural consultants, nurseries, architects, landscape architects, landscapers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, heavy equipment operators, painters, roofing contractors, fencing installers, paving contractors, material delivery, sign makers, archaeologists, and arborists. Supplies and equipment are needed from nurseries, lumber yards, quarries, building material suppliers, hardware stores, equipment manufacturers, and equipment rental businesses.

Investing in Pennsylvania’s environment makes strong fiscal sense. It is well established that state environmental investments provide tremendous rates of return—whether the measure is job creation and economic activity, costs avoided (such as public health and flooding), net tax revenues, or the wellbeing of people and communities. (See the numerous studies documenting the benefits in the Economic Benefits section of https://conservationtools.org.)

For more information, please reach out to the people and organizations of the Growing Greener Coalition including but not limited to:

Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Shannon Gority, PA Executive Director
[email protected]

Conservation Voters of PA
Joshua McNeil, Executive Director
[email protected]

Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
John Dawes, Executive Director
[email protected]

Lancaster Farmland Trust
Jeffrey Swinehart, Chief Operating Officer
[email protected]

Natural Lands
Oliver P. Bass, President
[email protected]

PennFuture
Jacquelyn Bonomo, President & CEO
[email protected]

Pennsylvania Environmental Council
John Walliser, Senior Vice President
[email protected]

Pennsylvania Recreation & Park Society
Tim Herd, CEO
[email protected]

Sierra Club PA Chapter
Jen Quinn, Legislative and Political Director
[email protected]

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Tom Sexton, Northeast Regional Director
[email protected]

The Conservation Fund
Kyle D. Shenk, Northeast Region Director
[email protected]

The Nature Conservancy, PA/DE Chapter
Ronald L. Ramsey, Senior Policy Advisor
[email protected]

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
Derek Eberly, Pennsylvania Field Organizer
[email protected]

 The Trust for Public Land
Owen Franklin, PA State Director
[email protected]

Trout Unlimited
Jennifer Orr-Greene, Eastern Policy Director
[email protected]

WeConservePA
Andrew M. Loza, Executive Director
[email protected]

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Cynthia Carrow, Vice President
[email protected]

 

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23 Pennsylvania Water Conservation Groups Support Significant Clean Water Investments from American Rescue Plan Funding

Dear Governor Wolf and Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly:

We, the undersigned groups of the conservation, business, environmental protection, and faith communities, are writing today to ask your support for increasing clean water funding—specifically, dedicated funding through a program such as the creation of a Clean Streams Fund as well as a reinvigorated Growing Greener III program.

Pennsylvania is faced with a unique opportunity. The recent passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provides the Commonwealth with $7 billion in federal funds. We’re advocating that a portion of this money—at least $500 million1—should be invested in our water resources which in turn supports jobs, a vibrant recreation economy, and supplies our drinking water. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership found that outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania contributes to over 390,000 jobs with a total value of $26.9 billion, including over $7 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue.

Poll after poll demonstrates wide, bipartisan support for increases in state investments for clean water. Most recently, a poll commissioned by Conservation Voters of PA and the Growing Greener Coalition in the fall of 2020 showed that nearly 90 percent of voters support funding for Pennsylvania’s land, water and wildlife, even during the economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We ask all members of the General Assembly and Governor Wolf to stand with voters and protect our waterways by providing dedicated funding to watershed improvement and best management practice implementation and reinvigorating Growing Greener III.

Growing Greener III

These funds provide critical support to community-driven work that improves and protects our cities and towns. Since 1999, Growing Greener has been a lifeline to conservation and clean water projects across the state. These investments bring lasting benefits to communities across Pennsylvania from clean water to open spaces to recreational pursuits for Pennsylvanians and tourists alike. Examples and success stories from these investments can be found on the Environmental Stewardship Fund’s website: https://esfund.info/.

Growing Greener was established with bipartisan support in the General Assembly as well as in public referenda and they continue to receive overwhelming public support today. In March, Senators John Gordner and Bob Mensch released a co-sponsor memo for support of a Growing Greener III program that would use $500 million from the American Recuse Plan funding to invest in our water resources and benefit our farmers, towns, and more.

Clean Stream Fund

Pennsylvania is blessed to be a water rich state with 86,000 miles of streams. However, around one-third of our streams are polluted. A dedicated fund devoted solely to cleaning up and protecting our waterways will support jobs and benefit Pennsylvania’s economy, towns, and farmers. In March, Senators Gene Yaw, Scott Martin, and Daniel Laughlin put forth a co-sponsor memo that would create the Clean Streams Fund using $250 million from the American Rescue Plan.

For years, our groups have called on increased investments for our water resources. Now is the time to act. We thank you for supporting healthy rivers and streams across the Commonwealth. Please contact Ezra Thrush at [email protected] with questions or for more information.

Respectfully submitted,

Jacquelyn Bonomo
President & CEO
PennFuture

Katie Blume
Political Director
Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania

Jessica Brittain
President
Action Together NEPA

Bobby Hughes
Executive Director
Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation

Kate Fritz
CEO
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay

Anne McCarthy, OSB
Coordinator
Erie Benedictines for Peace

Elizabeth Brown
Director, Delaware River Watershed Program
Audubon Mid-Atlantic

Brook Lenker
Executive Director
FracTracker Alliance

Shannon Gority
Pennsylvania Executive Director
Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Annette Marshall
Executive Director
Inner-City Neighborhood Art House

Reed Perry
Manager of External Affairs
Chesapeake Conservancy

Ted Evgeniadis
Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper
Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association

Diane Rosencrance
Executive Director
Delaware Highlands Conservancy

Oliver Bass
President
Natural Lands

Michael T. Sellers, Esq.
President
Newtown Creek Coalition

Julie Slavet
Executive Director
Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, Inc.

Pat Leary
President
Penns Valley Conservation Association

Jennifer Orr-Greene
Eastern Policy Director
Trout Unlimited

Rev. Sandra L. Strauss
Director of Advocacy & Ecumenical Outreach
Pennsylvania Council of Churches

George Hludzik
President
Western Pocono Trout Unlimited

Louise Troutman
Executive Director
Pocono Heritage Land Trust

Leigh Altadonna
President
Wyncote Audubon Society

Bill Reichert
President
Schuylkill Headwaters Association

 

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Funding Needed to Combat Flash Flooding from Fishing Creek

Photo credit: Brittney Hartzell

Fishing Creek’s headwaters are located on the edge of the Appalachian Plateau — approximately 2,200 feet above sea level. The creek flows down Columbia County’s mountainous northern State Game Lands #13 and then cuts through the forested county until it reaches Bloomsburg, where it joins the Susquehanna River. This steep drop in elevation causes the stream to have high energy flows during rain events, making Fishing Creek susceptible to unpredictable flooding, which has only gotten worse over the last couple of years.

Historically, many of the streams in Columbia County had a milldam, used to harness hydroelectric power. By 1840, Columbia County had 130 water-powered mills, but most of them were abandoned by the 1990s due to the use of fossil fuels for electricity. Abandoned milldams cause fine sediments to accumulate at the end of the dam, leading to a vertical build-up of “legacy sediments” that push the stream out of its floodplain and increase the risk of flooding. Benton and other towns along Fishing Creek have suffered the dire consequences of severe flooding every year, particularly in 2018 and the Christmas of 2020. When there are heavy rainstorms in Central Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Mountains, counties in the Susquehanna Lowlands have serious issues managing stormwater runoff and stream overflow.

Photo credit: Brittney Hartzell

Columbia County’s flooding issues have been heavily underfunded, in part because addressing the problem at its core involves identifying and removing abandoned milldams and their legacy sediments, both of which are very costly endeavors. The process requires conducting a land study to locate buried milldams, removing tons of legacy sediments, lowering the streambank, and determining where to best dispose of the material. Although getting rid of legacy sediments is expensive, the cost of undertaking these projects and reconnecting the stream to its floodplain is significantly lower than the cost of flood emergency response and property recovery.

Removing milldams from specific stream sections is not the only way to reduce flooding in the Fishing Creek Watershed. A watershed-level approach to Columbia County’s water problems is ideal. Starting restoration at the headwaters and working downstream would reduce stormwater runoff in the lowlands and minimize the risk of project failure due to unpredictable flooding. More importantly, a watershed-level approach would bring multiple other benefits to the region. Wetland restoration helps store immense amounts of water, while the reintroduction of native vegetation along streams stabilizes stream banks and reduces erosion. Preserving forested areas and local habitats is also beneficial as it frees up space for the stream when it needs it. Moreover, restoring the watershed would mitigate flooding and ensure clean water for Bloomsburg, which gets most of its drinking water from the Fishing Creek Watershed.

Communities along Fishing Creek are unpredictably flooded every year, endangering their safety, homes, and livelihoods. The costs of inaction are vast, and those who are forced to rebuild their homes every year or cannot afford to move outside of the floodplain are disproportionately affected. Funding projects that address flooding is imperative. Doing so today will be distinctly more economical than a couple of years down the road when the frequency of flooding is projected to increase.

Water & Green Infrastructure: A Good Fit for ARP

May 20, 2021

Re. Conservation Needs and Investments: A Good Fit for the American Rescue Plan

Dear Pennsylvania Senators, Representatives, and Governor Wolf:

I write on behalf of the 70 member organizations of WeConservePA (formerly the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association) and the more than one hundred thousand Pennsylvanians they count as members and supporters.

Pennsylvania’s waterways need help. Although spending parameters may not be fully understood, the American Rescue Plan can clearly play a major role in providing this assistance:

  • Billions of dollars in water investments are needed on a multitude of fronts to restore 19,000 miles of Pennsylvania waterways unsafe for drinking, swimming, and fishing.
  • Municipalities face huge costs regarding MS4; farmers badly need help with designing and implementing conservation practices like forested stream buffers to keep soil and nutrients on the land instead of running into the water.
  • Untreated AMD, desolate abandoned mined lands, and uncapped oil and gas wells harm our water and drag down local economies.
  • Lack of investment in addressing stormwater management and flood prevention leave many Pennsylvanians highly vulnerable to loss of property and life.

Funding these needs out of the American Rescue Plan is a great fit:

  • These are capital investments, not expenditures that have to be repeated (and supported out of the state general fund) after the federal money is gone.
  • Tens of millions of dollars in green infrastructure projects are shovel ready now.
  • Many more can be ready in short order if the money is made available.

The American Rescue Plan presents a tremendous opportunity to begin addressing the Commonwealth’s enormous backlog of green infrastructure needs. In addition to the water-centric needs, American Rescue Plan dollars might also be appropriate for addressing:

  • Our State Parks and Forests, which require nearly $1 billion in restoration and repair work.
  • Local parks and community open spaces that are seeing a surge (often doubling) in public usage and resulting wear-and-tear in this new era of increased interest in outdoor recreation.

American Rescue Plan dollars applied to green infrastructure would support myriad small businesses and good-paying jobs with them. Projects involve surveyors, appraisers, legal services, engineers, planners, drafters, environmental remediators, hydrologists, geologists, agricultural consultants, nurseries, architects, landscape architects, landscapers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, heavy equipment operators, painters, roofing contractors, fencing installers, paving contractors, material delivery, sign makers, archaeologists, and arborists. Supplies and equipment are needed from nurseries, lumber yards, quarries, building material suppliers, hardware stores, equipment manufacturers, and equipment rental businesses.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Andrew M. Loza
Executive Director

cc: member organizations

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Protecting Wolf Run

Wolf Run, a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Lycoming County, is designated as a High-Quality Cold Water Fishery and as a Migratory Fishery. Given its particular status, Wolf Run is provided with special protection to protect its water quality. However, streambank erosion and received agricultural runoff from surrounding farms has threatened to disrupt Wolf Run’s unique aquatic ecosystem and affecting its water quality.

Funding from the Environmental Stewardship Fund has provided Lycoming County Conservation District with $292,206 to improve water quality in Wolf Run by installing best management practices (BMPs) to reduce soil erosion and nutrient-laden runoff from the farmstead and pasture areas. Proposed BMPs include a manure storage facility, heavy use area protection, roof runoff structures, underground outlets, diversion, rock-lined waterway, and manure storage decommissioning.

Reducing Runoff and Reducing Costs for Grimone Farm

Picture credit: Cameron County Conservation District

In September 2020, Cameron County Conservation District built a manure storage building at Junior Grimone’s farm in North Creek. The project was funded by an Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener) Grant received by Headwaters Resource Conservation and Development Council. The new manure storage building allows for the manure from the pigs on the Grimone Farm to be stored under a covered roof out of the rain and the elements. It eliminates nutrient runoff from the former manure storage area that was entering North Creek during heavy rain events.

The new manure storage building will also allow the Grimone Farm to store the manure throughout winter so that it can be applied during the growing season in the spring, when the nutrients can be best utilized by the crops. By applying the manure during the spring growing season, it reduces the risk of runoff carrying manure from the fields into nearby waterways, while optimizing the fertility benefit of the manure and reducing the costs for purchasing and applying synthetic fertilizers. The manure storage building was constructed by James Hart Construction of Smethport.

Environmental Stewardship Fund Aids in Improving and Protecting the Prosperity of Conneaut Lake

Located in Crawford County, Conneaut Lake is known as the largest natural glacier lake within the state. A popular destination among recreational boaters, Conneaut Lake is also a haven for fishing, water skiing, and swimming.

However, as Conneaut Lake is noted on the EPA’s Integrated Waters List for having excessive nutrient (particularly phosphorous) loads, improving the water quality of Conneaut Lake is essential to ensuring the continued economic prosperity of the communities surrounding the lake and its watershed.

In 2014, Crawford County Conservation District was awarded a grant from the Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener) to develop a Conneaut Lake Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) on behalf of Conneaut Lake Aquatic Management Association. With the development phase of the plan now complete, focus has shifted to assist agencies, organizations, and municipalities surrounding Conneaut Lake and its watershed in obtaining federal and state funding to implement management strategies to prevent the continuation of non-point source pollutants from entering the lake and compromising its water quality.

According to the EPA, too much phosphorous within water can result in the excess growth of aquatic plants and algae blooms. This can result in a decreased level of dissolved oxygen within the water supply, hindering the levels that are necessary to support and sustain aquatic life.

Protecting Bradford County Waterways and the Chesapeake Bay

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop Bradford County Conservation District’s watershed program. Staff members complete surveyed, designed, and constructed 15 stream rehabilitation projects. With the cooperation of partners, these 15 projects resulted in nearly 1 mile of stabilized streams that prevented approximately 3,400 tons of sediment, 8,500 lbs of N (nitrogen), and 3,400 lbs of P (phosphorus) from entering Bradford County waterways, and subsequently, the Chesapeake Bay. The major funding source for stream work in 2020 was provided by the Environmental Stewardship Fund grants (Growing Greener, which provided funding to complete targeted work in the Satterlee and Wysox Creek Watersheds, as well as for work throughout Bradford County through the County Stream Initiative Program. The Bradford County Commissioners, in partnership with the Bradford County Conservation District were able to complete survey, design and construction of 10 sites where severe stream erosion was threatening a structure or sole access to a residence.

Additional funding for these projects was provided by the DEP Stream Improvement Program, which provides funding throughout the Commonwealth for primary residences or businesses that are threatened by severely eroding streambanks. Watersheds in Bradford County where this work took place included: Sugar Creek, Orcutt Creek, Towanda Creek, Buck Creek, and Wysox Creek.

These projects would not have been successful without the strong partnerships that have been formed between BCCD, Local, Federal, and State agencies, as well as the cooperation of Bradford County landowners.

Environmental Stewardship Fund Supports Acid Mine Drainage Treatment Project, Trout Nursery in Toby Creek Watershed

Water quality improvement within the Toby Creek Watershed is getting a boost, thanks to two grants awarded to Headwaters Charitable Trust through the Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener).

An award in the amount of $231,134 will be used in the Johnstown Inclined Plane Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) Treatment ID and Design project. This project will evaluate the chemistry and flow of the Bethlehem Mine #72, as well as evaluate commingling the discharge with an existing treatment plant and evaluate the potential to use the treated water for geothermal energy for heating and cooling within the treatment plant facility.

The additional award in the amount of $251,400 will aid in funding the operations of the Cooperative Nursery in Brockway. Run by the Toby Creek Watershed Association, the Cooperative Nursery uses water treated on site from acid mine discharge to raise trout. This treatment has been instrumental in reducing the impacts of abandoned mine drainage within the Toby Creek Watershed and in improving stream water quality, while also providing economic value.

 

Stabilization of Raccoon Creek Improves Water Quality in Hanover Township and Beyond

Nearly 46 miles long, Raccoon Creek winds through wood lots, agricultural land, and previously mine-stripped land. The impacts of this land use along Raccoon Creek has led to more than 2.5 miles of the Creek being degraded by runoff and vegetation removal.

In early 2021, Beaver County Conservation District received a $25,285 Environmental Stewardship Fund grant (Growing Greener) to continue the Raccoon Creek stabilization project (Phase I was completed by Allegheny County Conservation District). Phase II of this project seeks to implement natural stream design structures in the section of Raccoon Creek located in Hanover Township that will ultimately mitigate erosion, provide wildlife habitat, and improve water quality.

Located between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, the Raccoon Creek Watershed covers 184 square miles and is home to 35,000 people. Classified as a priority watershed by the PA Department of Environmental Protection, the area abounds with biodiversity and natural heritage, as well as outdoor recreational opportunities. Three major streams within the watershed – King’s Creek, Traverse Creek, and Service Creek – contain classifications as High Quality Warm Water Fisheries, while the mouth of the Raccoon Creek empties into the Ohio River, home to threatened and endangered aquatic wildlife.

It’s estimated that this project will prevent 400 – 800 of sediment from entering Raccoon Creek, protecting and enhancing the water quality of the region and beyond.