For Immediate Release: June 24, 2011
Five More Organizations and Municipalities Join Coalition in Calling for Growing Greener Funding
Support to Restore Funding for Key State Environmental, Conservation and Recreation Program Continues to Grow
(HARRISBURG, PA) The Renew Growing Greener Coalition today announced that five more organizations and municipalities have joined in supporting the effort to restore state funding for Growing Greener.
Clean Air Council (Philadelphia) and Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy (Schwenksville) have signed the Coalition’s Statement of Support, which calls for the establishment of a dedicated and sustainable source of revenue to support the renewal of Growing Greener. They join more than 220 other organizations and groups that have also announced their support for renewing Growing Greener.
In addition, the following municipalities join over 65 other municipalities and 22 counties, representing over 5 million Pennsylvanians, which have passed resolutions:
*Broad Top Township (Bedford County)
*Doylestown Borough (Bucks County)
*East Vincent Township (Chester County)
Growing Greener is a bipartisan program established in 1999 under Governor Tom Ridge and later expanded by Governors Schweiker and Rendell. Since its establishment, Growing Greener has created a legacy of success, preserving more than 33,700 acres of Pennsylvania’s family farmland, conserving more than 42,300 acres of threatened open space, adding 26,000 acres to state parks and forests, and restoring over 16,000 acres of abandoned mine lands.
In 2002, a dedicated source of revenue for Growing Greener was identified in an increase in the state’s “tipping fee,” the fee charged for dumping trash in Pennsylvania’s landfills. Those funds were supplemented by a $625 million bond approved by voters in 2005, called Growing Greener II. Unless action is taken by the Governor and the Legislature, those funds will be largely exhausted as of June 30th, with most of the Growing Greener I tipping fees going to the debt service on the Growing Greener II bonds.
