Spring Creek, Dauphin County. Print your own copy from the PDF file at the bottom of this webpage.

Gov. Rendell’s talks with Republican Leaders from the Senate and House on funding transit, the largest remaining hole in the current year’s budget, didn’t go well this week.

The Governor came out in support of a 33 percent increase in the Realty Transfer Tax, along with increases in driver and vehicle fees, a plan similar to one a bipartisan group of Senate and House members are advocating.

Republicans pushed for a comprehensive solution involving highways and bridges and a “permanent solution” for mass transit. They encouraged the Governor to shift more federal dollars from highway projects until the end of the fiscal year to fill the gaps, which he apparently agreed to do at week’s end.

NewsClips: Rendell’s New Transit Offer

Rendell, Lawmakers at Impasse on Transit

Rendell will transfer funds

Session Schedule

Next scheduled voting session days begin week of March 14.

Contents – On the Hill

· Senate Committee Sets Hearing on Environmental Hearing Board Nominee

· DEP, DCNR Budget Hearings Coming Up

· Joint Conservation Committee Forum, Environmental Synopsis

Other News

· USDA Provides $9.3 Million For Watershed Recovery In 12 States

· Public Meetings Set on Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy

· Hay Creek Added to PA Rivers Conservation Registry

· PPL Invests $630 Million in Voluntary Pollution Controls

· DEP Requests Revised PM 2.5 Designation for Mercer County

· Sign Up for Free Bad Air Day Warnings

· EPA Grants Address Environmental Health Threats to Older Persons

· EPA Region Sponsoring Industrial Byproducts Beneficial Use Summit

· Brownfields Loan Transforms Vacant Lot to Business Center

· DOE Special Projects Solicitations Open to Businesses, Nonprofits

· Canal History Video Gets Emmy Nomination

· PUC Keystone Competition Newsletter Now Online

· Youth Bass Anglers School Invites Students to Apply

· Parks and Forests Foundation Seeks Executive Director

· Quick Clips: New Comprehensive Plan, Wind Mills, Birds of Feather, Counting Deer, Greener 2, Loyalhanna Gorge Preserve, Nuclear Power

Taking Positive Action

· Johnson & Johnson Recognized as Corporate Environmental Leader by EPA

Feature

· Flooding and the Value of Riparian Buffers – Conservation Tools for Landowners By: Brian J. Vadino, Wildlands Conservancy

Opinion

· Taking the Next Step in Watershed Protection – Private Support for a Public Good By Ed Wytovich, Catawissa Watershed Association

Web Resources

· Teaching Environment & Ecology In School and at Home

Calendar of Events – Check out all the new items!

2/25/2005