The Department of Environmental Protection this week announced the award of $14.4 million in Watershed Restoration Grants for 129 projects.

“These grants will improve the quality of our waterways, address serious environmental problems at mine sites and make our communities more livable,” Gov. Rendell said. “Pennsylvania needs clean streams, protected open spaces and uncontaminated sites in order to win the race for new business development, enhance our economic competitiveness and create the jobs we critically need.”

Among the projects approved were $2.2 million for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and $170,000 for engineering and watershed assessment assistance for the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, $122,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for a precision dairy feeding program, $488,824 to Ducks Unlimited, Inc. for field visits and surveys to construct wetlands in the Ohio River Basin, $302,000 to the Pennsylvania Environmental Council to deliver a water quality trading platform and registry design, $250,000 to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to restore tree cover in the five county Southeastern Pennsylvania region, $736,651 to Concurrent Technologies Corp. for a two-phased enhanced metals recovery program from acid mine drainage, and $166,000 to the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and $180,000 to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to provide technical assistance to watershed groups.

A complete list of projects is available online.

Included in this $14.4 million round of grant awards is funding from several sources-- $9.3 million in traditional Growing Greener watershed grants, $1.6 million in federal Office of Surface Mining Title IV grants, $1.9 million for the beneficial use of acid mine discharge to clean state waterways and $537,081 in 10 percent set-aside funds for state-federal mine reclamation projects. In addition, DEP is recommending $1.1 million in Nonpoint Source Implementation Program Grants, funded through Section 319(h) of the federal Clean Water Act.

Since 1999, DEP has supplied $172 million in watershed grants for 1,497 projects in all 67 counties of Pennsylvania under the original Growing Greener Program. The grants are used to create or restore wetlands, restore stream buffer zones, eliminate causes of nonpoint source pollution, plug oil and gas wells, reclaim abandoned mine lands, and restore aquatic life to streams that were lifeless due to acid mine drainage.

For more information visit the Growing Greener webpage.

NewsClips: Rendell Announces $14.4 Million Watershed Project Grants

Saxman Run Mine Project to Generate Electricity

Grant Will Help Restore Wyomissing Creek

11/18/2005