The PA Growing Greener Coalition Tuesday celebrated the approval of more than $28 million in Marcellus Legacy Fund grants to support recreation and critical land and water protection efforts throughout the state.
“The Pennsylvania Growing Greener Coalition is pleased that funds from the Marcellus Legacy Fund will be used to support vital recreation and land and water protection efforts,” said Andrew Heath, executive director of the Pennsylvania Growing Greener Coalition. “These grants will have a lasting impact on the Commonwealth by supporting projects that provide numerous benefits including protecting watersheds, mitigating risk of flooding, building and maintaining recreational trails and treating former mining sites.”
A result of Act 13, which was signed into law in 2012, the ‘impact fee’ collects fees on natural gas drilling. To date, the state’s impact fee has collected more than $400 million. Forty percent of the fees collected are allocated to the Marcellus Shale Legacy Fund.
A portion of the Fund is administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority to support statewide conservation and recreation efforts. This initial round of grants distributed more than $28 million in grants.
The Coalition was instrumental in ensuring that funds collected through the Marcellus Legacy Fund be made available for statewide conservation and recreation projects.
A breakdown of the grants distributed by the Commonwealth Financing Authority is as follows:
-- $5.6 million to restore streams impaired by polluted runoff in 18 counties;
-- $16 million to support 116 greenway, trail and recreation projects throughout the state;
-- $5.2 million to support 12 abandoned mine drainage abatement and treatment projects statewide;
-- $700,000 to support flood mitigation projects in Blair, Bucks, Lackawanna and Northumberland counties; and
-- $225,000 to plug orphaned and abandoned wells in Allegheny and Washington counties.
“The Marcellus Legacy Fund was created to help support important environmental protection efforts statewide and in local communities, and we’re glad to see that its impact is starting to be felt,” Heath said. “This first round of grant awards will go a long way to improving environmental outcomes and upholding Pennsylvania’s status as a great place to live and work.”
Established in 2008, the PA Growing Greener Coalition comprises local, regional and statewide conservation, recreation and preservation groups. It is the largest coalition of conservation, recreation and preservation organizations in the Commonwealth.
