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Op-Ed: The Local Economic Impact Of Failing To Fund Clean Water Programs

By Harry Campbell, PA Executive Director, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

The following op-ed appeared in Lancasteronline.com Friday highlighting the backward steps both Pennsylvania and the federal government are taking to fund cost-effective nutrient and sediment pollution reduction practices and its local economic impact—

As Pennsylvania considers yet another budget that does not adequately fund efforts to clean up its rivers and streams, the federal House Appropriations Committee has approved a spending bill that would cut support for the Chesapeake Bay program from $73 million to $60 million.

Inadequate funding from the Commonwealth and the Bay program would slow efforts to protect and restore clean water and have negative impacts on the Keystone State’s economy.

In fact, economic analysis indicates that cleaning up our rivers and streams will result in more than $6.2 billion in additional natural benefits each year for the Commonwealth.

Roughly 19,000 miles of Pennsylvania rivers and streams are fouled by pollution, and the state cannot afford to lag behind any further in meeting its commitments to clean water.

The negative effects of funding cuts go beyond water quality, to concerns about human health, property and our local economy.

Simply stated, these resources are leveraged with other public and private investments that trickle down to the dinner tables of Pennsylvanians.

Consider three conservation-focused companies in Lancaster County whose workers and families rely on income from jobs related to cleaning up our rivers and streams.

Flyway Excavating Inc., of Lititz, marks its 30th year in 2017 and employs 30 people; 24 of them work “in the field.”

The company serves niche markets and runs seven work crews on stream and wetlands restoration, parks and plaza construction, culverts and bridges, dam removal and dam restoration, and streetscape projects.

Over the last three years, stream restoration work has accounted for about 30 percent of Flyway’s business when considering streams, wetlands and dam projects. At times, half of the workers and equipment are dedicated to stream improvement projects.

President Brad Clubb says he believes cuts in funding would hurt Flyway’s bottom line and workforce.

He notes a valuable working partnership with Donegal Trout Unlimited on the Conowingo Creek.

“Loss of funding would have a dire impact on good things happening in that watershed,” Clubb admits. Flyway does a project a year for Donegal Trout Unlimited, some totaling $300,000 to 400,000.

Also in Lititz, LandStudies Inc. has been taking restoration and conservation projects from concept to completion and beyond since 1989.

LandStudies has 20 to 25 employees doing design and landscape architecture; 10 to 12 others work on field operations.

As much as 30 percent of LandStudies’ revenue originates from state or federal funding for riparian buffers, stream restoration, wetland creation, green infrastructure, innovative stormwater management, rain gardens and more.

Director of Field Operations Jimmy Kreider acknowledges that LandStudies and its workers would feel the bite of budget cuts.

Funding also provides education for watershed coordinators at different organizations and programs.

“If that level of awareness goes away it may affect private clients as well,” Kreider says. “They may not be incentivized or even aware that this work needs to be done.”

LandStudies also has private customers and works with municipalities to help them meet municipal separate storm sewer system requirements.

Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, of Kirkwood, has been in business for 27 years growing native trees and shrubs for environmental restoration and conservation projects.

Octoraro employs 35 people, including seasonal Amish workers who help produce, maintain and ship plant inventory throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Jim MacKenzie, president and co-owner, says 75 percent to 80 percent of Octoraro’s business is related to plantings that improve water, such as riparian buffers, wetland mitigation, bio retention, and green infrastructure.

Funding cutbacks could threaten “hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue and real jobs along with the ripple effect to the local economy,” MacKenzie says.

The nursery does its part to improve water quality within the Octoraro watershed. It created a four-acre wetland in the floodplain of the Octoraro as a passive, water quality treatment facility cleaning runoff.

“It’s great for the Octoraro because it is one of the key targeted watersheds for the bay right now,” MacKenzie adds. “The bay benefits when we can do these things locally.”

Full funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program and other clean water efforts is critical to the health and economic welfare of Lancaster County and the rest of Pennsylvania.

For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage. Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column). Click Here to support their work.

For more information on Bay-related initiatives in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Office webpage.

(Photo: Flyway Excavating Inc.)

Harry Campbell is PA Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and can be contacted by sending email to: hcampbell@cbf.org or call 717-234-5550 ext. 110.

NewsClips:

Op-Ed: PA Needs To Get Serious About Its Drinking Water Crisis, Jim Sandoe, DEP CAC

Op-Ed: The Ripple Effect Of Failing To Fund Clean Water Programs

Private Investors Offer New Source Of Conservation Funding Thru Pay-For-Success

The Perfect Lawn Keeps Rainfall At Home

Editorial: PA Needs To Require Flood Insurance In Mapped Zones

Cuts To EPA Funding Could Hobble Delaware River’s Cleanup, Report

Trump’s EPA Cuts Threaten Water Quality In Delaware Watershed, Report Says

A Call To Save EPA From Trump Administration’s Budget Axe

Op-Ed: Let’s See Funding For Delaware Watershed Protection, Restoration

Crable: Group Points Finger At Lancaster For Manure Pollution

CBF-PA: Veterans On The Susquehanna