Submitted Article
Rep. Karen Boback (Lackawanna/Luzerne/Wyoming) and Sen. Lisa Baker (20th District) have announced three recipients of Growing Greener Grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Wyoming County.
“Even during difficult times, it is important to work together to help keep Pennsylvania clean,” said Boback (above). “Throughout Wyoming County, we have organizations who are committed to doing just that. I am delighted to see three grants from the Growing Greener program being distributed in our county.”
“Preservation of our environment is an important investment in our future,” Baker (above) said. “I am pleased that these grants are being provided to local groups to protect our water resources. The Growing Greener program has had a significant impact within our region in the past, and these three projects will continue the positive trend of safeguarding our waterways.”
The projects in Wyoming County that received grants are as follows:
- Mehoopany Creek Watershed Association, Inc., Mehoopany Creek – Windy Valley and North Branch – Restoration Maintenance Project. $150,000 grant
- Wyoming County Conservation District, Controlling Nutrients within a High-Quality Watershed. $80,731 grant
- Wyoming County Conservation District, Nutrient/Sediment Pollution Reduction Initiative. $31,555 grant
DEP announced that 22 projects to clean up waters in the state’s Northeast region have been selected to receive funding through DEP’s Growing Greener program. Growing Greener is the largest single investment of state funds in Pennsylvania’s history to address Pennsylvania’s environmental concerns.
Growing Greener has helped to slash the backlog of farmland-preservation projects statewide, protect open space, eliminate the maintenance backlog in state parks, clean up abandoned mines and restore watersheds, provide funds for recreational trails and local parks, help communities address land use and provide new and upgraded water and sewer systems. DEP is authorized to allocate these funds in grants for watershed restoration and protection, abandoned mine reclamation, and abandoned oil and gas well plugging projects.