For Immediate Release: September 16, 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, businesses and municipalities have joined in supporting the effort to restore state funding for Growing Greener.
Brandywine Valley Association (West Chester), Red Clay Valley Association (West Chester), Chester Ridley Crum Watersheds Association (Media) and Venango PA Senior Environmental Corps (Oil City) 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 230 other organizations and groups that have also announced their support for renewing Growing Greener.
In addition, Tinicum Township in Bucks County and Haverford Township in Delaware County joined more than 90 other municipalities and 23 counties, representing more than 5 million Pennsylvanians, which have passed resolutions:
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.
Moreover, Growing Greener has contributed and leveraged billions of dollars to the Pennsylvania economy by helping to boost tourism, create jobs and generate revenue.
Yet despite the program’s accomplishments, funding for Growing Greener projects and grants fell from an average of approximately $150 million per year for the last six years to $27.3 million in the current state budget. This is an 82 percent cut.
About the Renew Growing Greener Coalition The Renew Growing Greener Coalition is the Commonwealth’s largest coalition of conservation, recreation and environmental organizations representing nearly 350 organizations and government entities. For more information on the Coalition, visit www.RenewGrowingGreener.org.
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