PA Environment Digest

The Renew Growing Greener Coalition this week announced eleven more organizations and municipalities have joined in supporting the effort to restore state funding for Growing Greener.

Penn’s Corner RC&D Council (Beaver), Friends of McConnell’s Mills State Park (New Wilmington), Friends of Wissahickon (Philadelphia), and Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO (Philadelphia) 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 200 other organizations and groups that have also announced their support for renewing Growing Greener.

In addition, the following municipalities join at least 60 other Pennsylvania municipalities and counties that have passed resolutions urging the Governor and legislature to renew Growing Greener funding: Chester County Planning Commission, Chester County, East Brandywine Township, Chester County, East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, East Whiteland Township, Chester County, Honey Brook Township, Chester County, Millbourne Borough, Delaware County, and West Sadsbury Township, Chester County

“There is tremendous support statewide for the renewal of Growing Greener,” said Andrew Heath, executive director of the Renew Growing Greener Coalition. “This should send a clear signal to the Governor and the legislature that they need to act now to restore funding for the program and ensure families have access to clean drinking water, fresh air and green open spaces.”

Growing Greener is a bipartisan program established in 1999 under Gov. 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.

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