PA Environment Digest Blog: DEP Announces Over $12 Million In Watershed Restoration, Stormwater Infrastructure Grants Funded In-Part By Mariner East Pipeline Penalties, Federal American Rescue Plan Funding

Late on January 5, the Department of Environmental Protection announced over $12 million in Growing Greener Plus Grants to support local watershed restoration projects, reclaim abandoned mines, reduce flooding, nutrient and sediment pollution.

Funding for the projects comes from--

-- State Environmental Stewardship Fund for Growing Greener Plus Grants;

-- Penalties paid to the Office of Attorney General from Mariner East Pipeline operator Energy Transfer Marketing & Terminals, L.P. for environmental violations; and

-- Federal American Rescue Plan funding.

“The Growing Greener Plus grant program empowers communities to pursue environmental progress and innovation,” said Interim Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley. “This support fuels vital Pennsylvania initiatives that protect our land and restore local watersheds. As a result, our Commonwealth can look forward to a greener future.”

“Pennsylvanians have a fundamental right to clean water, and these two projects will further my office’s mission to make that right a reality,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry. “The conviction we secured against Energy Transfer for environmental crimes while building natural gas pipelines will continue to pay dividends for future generations by funding projects that protect Pennsylvania’s natural resources.”

List Of Projects Funded By County

-- Allegheny County--

-- Nine Mile Run Watershed Association (Upstream Pittsburgh)— $390,000: The project will implement phase II of the Wilkinsburg Stormwater Resiliency Project. The Borough of Wilkinsburg, a small environmental justice community adjacent to Pittsburgh, is the location for the project and will benefit greatly from the nature-based infrastructure best management practices (BMPs).

-- Nine Mile Run Watershed Association (Upstream Pittsburgh)— $185,450: The project will develop a Nine Mile Run Environmental Justice Watershed Plan. The result of the plan will be seven subwatershed, neighborhood scale system plans to address water quality issues in the Nine Mile Run Watershed.

-- Beaver County--

-- Beaver County Conservation District— $16,925: The project will implement several agricultural BMPs to reduce sediment and nutrient pollutant loads to an unnamed tributary into Brush Creek. The project will focus on remediating the main sources of agricultural and sedimentation impairment and document the improvements.

-- Beaver County Conservation District— $307,280: The project will implement several agricultural BMPs to reduce sediment and nutrient loads to an unnamed tributary that outlets into Brush Creek. The project will focus on remediating the main sources of agricultural and sedimentation impairment and document the improvements.

-- Berks County--

-- Berks County Conservation District— $250,625: The project will design and permit shovel-ready floodplain and stream restoration projects on four contiguous properties, extending over a mile of stream located in the Cacoosing Creek Watershed. The project will conduct an assessment, planning, design and permitting on several high priority stream and floodplain sections.

-- Blair County--

-- Blair County ACT 167 Stormwater Management Plan— $30,000: Blair County has 1,092 miles of streams and 10 percent impaired waters. The county has implemented several best management practices with the goal of reducing over a million pounds of sentiment, and addressing stormwater and flooding issues.

-- Bradford County--

-- Bradford County Conservation District— $350,000: The project will implement three streambed and bank rehabilitation projects to reduce sedimentation. The project will also replace three undersized stream culverts.

-- Bradford County Commissioners— $228,000: The project will complete up to six streambank and crossing projects totaling approximately 1,700 linear feet (LF) of stream. Approximately 1 acre (ac.) of forested riparian buffer will be created or maintained.

-- Bucks County--

-- Cooks Creek Watershed Association— $52,575: The project will update a 21-year-old Cooks Creek Watershed Conservation Plan for the Cooks Creek watershed. The focal point of this plan will be the detailed watershed surveys and recommendations of best management practices (BMPs), and stream restoration to maintain this creek's High Quality/ Exceptional Value status.

-- Bucks County Act 167 Stormwater Planning Grant— $50,000: Bucks County desires to prepare a county-wide Act 167 plan that integrates the requirements of the MS4 permit process, identifies additional areas of concern and potential solutions, and provides guidance to the seven municipalities that are not in the MS4 program. The development of a county-wide Act 167 plan will provide the resources and guidance necessary to assist municipalities with their stormwater management planning and implementation.

-- Cambria County--

-- Cambria County Commissioners— $236,979: The proposed project will address eroding streambanks and shorelines utilizing bio-engineering methods such as live stakes, riparian plantings, rock framed deflectors, and fish habitat structures. These methods will reduce sediment loading into the local waterways.

-- Cambria County Commissioners— $242,000: The project will address eroding streambanks utilizing bioengineering methods such as live stakes, riparian plantings, and fish habitat structures. These methods will reduce sediment loading, a pollutant, into local waterways.

-- Centre County--

-- Spring Creek Chapter Trout Unlimited— $211,341: The project will restore 4,409 LF of streambank reconnecting the stream with the floodplain in the marsh and providing structures to limit streambank erosion.

-- Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited— $108,365: The project will restore 1,810 ft. of streambanks and reconnect the stream to the floodplain.

-- Chester County--

-- Brandywine Red Clay Alliance— $91,700: The project will develop a science-based approach to address impaired streams through a comprehensive watershed assessment and restoration plan for the Pocopson Creek Watershed.

-- Goose Creek Alliance— $77,300: The project will develop a Watershed Action Plan and Feasibility Study for the Goose Creek Watershed. The main goals of this project are to identify priority sites for restoration through an evaluation of existing watershed conditions and available background information, as well as to engage stakeholders and the community at large.

-- Easttown Township— $41,217: The project will design and construct 14 residential rain gardens throughout the township, and provide four public education workshops on stormwater issues in collaboration with Willistown Conservation Trust.

-- West Chester Borough— $200,747: The project will design, permit, and install stormwater BMPs, including rain gardens and a bioswale. The project will address impairments to the Goose Creek watershed and help detain and infiltrate stormwater above flood-prone sections of the creek, along residential property in West Chester.

-- Chester County Water Resources Authority— $50,000: The project will update Chester County’s Act 167 stormwater plan to ensure the county and its citizens, businesses, organizations, and municipalities are equipped with the information needed to respond to ever-evolving local water resource needs. The Chester County Water Resources Authority (CCWRA) is currently leading efforts with municipal partners to update the county-wide integrated water resources plan.

-- Westtown Township— $187,039: The project will cover construction costs for the Thorne Drive Basin retrofit. The basin will be converted from a dry detention basin into a water quality basin. This project is a stormwater BMP to help the township meet pollutant reduction goals for the Goose Creek total maximum daily load (TMDL) and the Chester Creek pollution reduction plan (PRP).

-- Clearfield County--

-- Clearfield County Conservation District— $122,842: The project will accelerate nutrient and sediment reductions in Clearfield County by installing agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on farms, implementing a stream restoration project, and providing incentives to encourage greater cover crop use and adoption.

-- Clearfield County Conservation District— $282,500: The proposed project will implement a regional technical assistance program that supports current programs by creating public/private partnerships; implement private sector technical assistance on farms, and develop shovel-ready projects for future installation.

-- Clinton County--

-- Trout Unlimited, Inc.— $85,000: The project will implement a streambank stabilization project on Kettle Creek reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment. Trout Unlimited will restore and maintain a minimum of 0.5 ac. of forested riparian buffer, and develop a Manure Management plan, if required, and an Agricultural Erosion and Sediment Control Plan.

-- Clinton County Conservation District— $45,000: The project will create and enhance wetland and waterfowl habitat around an area where waterfowl is known to frequent. The project involves the creation of 12 pothole areas that vary in size from 0.20 to 0.56 ac. for a total of 4.48 ac. These potholes will create micro-habitats for waterfowl.

-- Columbia County--

-- Columbia County Conservation District— $24,000: The project will promote soil health practices through education on using cover crops and cost-sharing custom roller crimping.

-- Dauphin County--

-- Capital Area Greenbelt Association, Inc.— $288,000: The project will repair 825 linear feet (LF) of deteriorating stream channel using regrading and plant materials. The project will reduce sediment pollution by reshaping the overly deep and wide stream to provide a defined drainage channel for the base flow, a wide flat floodplain, and change the eroding vertical embankments to a naturally stable gradient planted with approximately 2,600 new native plants including live stakes, large and small trees, shrubs, and seeding.

-- Delaware County--

-- Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art— $100,000: The project will implement agricultural BMPs and green stormwater infrastructure in the Red Clay Creek and White Clay Creek Focus Areas.

-- Growing Greener Plus - County-wide Act 167— $50,000: Delaware County plans to update their existing Act 167 stormwater plans and this new county- wide plan will bring the entire County into Act 167 compliance. A county- wide plan will allow Delaware County to formally identity problematic areas for flooding and develop stormwater management solutions.

-- Erie County--

-- Gannon University— $308,098: The project will establish several types of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) and a management plan for the Gannon University’s campus to reduce its impact on the habitat and water quality in the impaired waters of Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie.

-- Fulton County--

-- Fulton County Conservation District— $117,110: The project will design and permit two sites, which will total 2,200 LF of livestock exclusion, stream restoration, and streamside forested buffers along banks of Big Cove Creek.

-- Huntington County--

-- Chesapeake Conservancy, Inc.— $140,000: The project will implement Phase I and Phase II activities for the Warriors Mark Run - East catchment. The project includes design, permitting and plan writing for projects, and construction for a farm restoration project.

-- Huntingdon County Conservation District— $374,346: The project will complete four stream restoration projects in Huntingdon County to stabilize eroding streambanks and reduce the loading of sediment and nutrients into Standing Stone Creek. It will install best management practices (BMPs) such as mudsills, log cross vanes, rock vanes, rock toe, and brush mattresses that will stabilize the eroding streambanks and provide beneficial fish habitat.

-- Indiana County--

-- Borough of Indiana— $364,225: The project will integrate stream realignment, stabilization, and live stake planting, not only mitigating urban runoff and controlling water temperatures, but also reducing flooding in residential areas.

-- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy— $71,639: The project will stabilize and improve 700 ft. of streambank erosion and instream habitat located on Crooked Creek. The project will improve habitat for fish and aquatic organisms, reduce the overabundance of nutrients and sediment, and improve the water quality in Crooked Creek.

-- Lancaster County--

-- Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake— $116,000: The project will provide technical assistance to congregations with the sponsor's partners, the Center for Watershed Protection and Alliance for the Chesapeake. The project will design, permit, and construct up to nine green infrastructure projects at five congregations and provide green team training, maintenance training, and various educational events and ribbon cuttings to help additional congregations in Lancaster County take action towards cleaner water.

-- Cocalico Creek Watershed Association— $96,400: The project will design and permit a stream and wetland restoration along approximately 1,285 LF on the Little Cocalico Creek at Fry Run.

-- Lancaster County Conservation District— $276,225: The project will restore 3,400 LF of stream habitat with livestock exclusion fencing and riparian forest buffer.

-- Lancaster County Act 167 Plan Update (Phase 1)— $50,000: The project will update Lancaster County’s Act 167 stormwater plan which will allow the county to more effectively address its accelerated runoff and flooding problems, which in turn will have benefits for water quality and pollutant loading. A new plan will provide updated ordinances to support regional runoff and flood management.

-- Lancaster & Chester Counties--

-- Stroud Water Research Center, Inc.— $258,000: The project will implement 27.65 acres (ac) of forested buffers on nine farms in Lancaster and Chester Counties. The buffers on six Lancaster County farms will also provide livestock exclusion.

-- Lehigh County--

-- Wildlands Conservancy, Inc.— $200,000: The project will stabilize two areas along Laurel Run to restore habitat and prevent damage to park infrastructure. The project will install instream habitat structures, grade and stabilize eroding streambanks, and establish a native riparian buffer along the stream.

-- Lehigh & Northampton County--

-- Lehigh Valley Planning Commission— $30,000: The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC), the official planning agency for Lehigh and Northampton Counties, will create a consistent, up-to-date Act 167 Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP). The revised SWMP will regulate the impacts of subdivision and land development activities, ensure best management practices including the expansion of green infrastructure, identify and develop a plan to mitigate adverse impacts on equity communities, among other social, economic, environmental, and resiliency benefits.

-- Lehigh, Carbon, Bucks, Monroe, Philadelphia & Northampton County--

-- Partnership for the Delaware Estuary— $149,802: The project will develop and expand a newly formed water quality collaborative for the direct Delaware River drainage north of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Lehigh Counties and beyond. The project will bring together various stakeholder groups to work together towards the common goal of improving water quality.

-- Lycoming County--

-- Lycoming County Conservation District— $90,000: The project will continue the district's cover crop incentive payment program.

-- McKean County--

-- Mckean County Conservation District— $346,821: The project will address agricultural nonpoint source (NPS) pollution and mitigate the extensive streambank erosion, denuded riparian corridors, and degraded fish habitat within Long Branch, a tributary to Annin Creek a subwatershed of the Upper Allegheny Watershed.

-- Mifflin County--

-- Mifflin County Conservation District— $67,725: The project will design and permit urban BMPs at the Lewistown Country Club, including bioswales, rain gardens, formal conservation landscaping, and invasive plant species control. The BMPs will treat stormwater coming from the parking lot and entrance road.

-- Monroe County--

-- Monroe County Conservation District— $407,599: The project will permit and construct agricultural best management practices (BMPs) in the Pine Creek subwatershed of Buckwha Creek. The project site is a 119 acreage (ac.) beef operation.

-- Montgomery County--

-- Lower Merion Conservancy— $217,600: The project will restore large sections of the riparian buffer, upland woodlands, and native meadows in an 8.9 acre (ac) public preserve. The preserve is a popular destination for residents and home to important wildlife, as well as an outdoor classroom for the Conservancy's educational programming.

-- Northampton County--

-- Wildlands Conservancy— $175,000: The project will design, permit, and construct a large-scale dam removal and stream restoration project along a priority site in the Bushkill Creek. It will involve dam removal, instream habitat restoration, and riparian buffer plantings to address impairment issues and provide long-term, sustainable benefits to the water quality and biological health of the Bushkill Creek.

-- Bushkill Stream Conservancy— $120,000: The project will enhance instream and riparian habitat along a 1,500 linear feet (LF) section of Bushkill Creek flowing through Wildlands Conservancy’s Binney and Smith Preserve. The project area is located immediately upstream from a run-of-the-river dam that was removed in 2021 and is accessible from the nearby Palmer Township Bike Path.

-- Philadelphia County--

-- Philadelphia City Treasurer - Water Department— $350,000: The project will build a series of rain gardens on the edges of North Philadelphia. These stormwater BMPs will manage run-off from nearly 324,000 sq. ft. of impervious surface. The BMPs will reduce nutrient and sediment pollutant loads from developed lands and urban runoff, and support the restoration and projection of Philadelphia's rivers.

-- Philadelphia City Treasurer - Water Department— $350,000: The project will manage run off from over 77,000 sq. ft. of impervious surface. It will construct one rain garden on a decades-old community garden, and a series of three stormwater tree trenches in North Philadelphia.

-- Snyder County--

-- Snyder County Conservation District— $100,000: The project will install 10 ac. of forested riparian buffers and agricultural BMP's, including streambank fencing, stabilized stream crossings, and watering facilities.

-- Snyder County Conservation District— $12,000: The project will reduce nonpoint source pollution by installing two poultry manure storages.

-- Chesapeake Conservancy, Inc.— $269,972: The project will implement farm restoration projects in rapid stream delisting catchments within the Northcentral Region. The project includes design, permitting, and construction for one named and other, to be determined, agricultural BMP projects.

-- Somerset County--

-- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy— $149,417: The project will stabilize an eroding streambank and improve instream habitat on section of the South Fork Bens Creek. The project will restore approximately 1,365 feet of stream on a publicly-accessible stream.

-- Venango County--

-- Venango Conservation District— $380,873: The project will install agricultural BMPs on a dairy farm, including an access road, underground outlet, liquid waste storage facility, heavy use areas, and others.

-- Warren County:

-- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy— $89,000: The project will stabilize up to 1,000 ft. of the eroding streambank on Browns Run near its mouth to the Allegheny River from further erosion, and create increased habitat for native fish species and other wildlife found within the watershed by installing approximately 25 log and stone structures.

-- Washington County--

-- Washington County Conservation District— $230,965: The project will install agricultural BMP's on a historical sheep farm that has been operating for 300 years. This sheep operation pastures surround an unnamed tributary that flows into a headwater stream in the Charters Creek Watershed. The goal of this project is to install agricultural BMPs to improve pasture productivity and eliminate animal access to the stream.

-- Westmoreland County--

-- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy— $138,580: The project will stabilize and improve 1,800 ft. of streambank erosion and instream habitat located on a section of Little Sewickley Creek. The proposed project will improve habitat for fish and aquatic organisms, reduce the overabundance of nutrients and sediment, and improve the water quality in Little Sewickley Creek.

-- Westmoreland County Conservation District— $156,280: The project will stabilize approximately 500 ft. of severely eroding streambank along Monastery Run at the Adelphoi Village school campus. Stabilization will improve water quality within the Loyalhanna watershed, and protect the school from a loss of facilities and property due to the accelerated erosion.

-- Westmoreland County Conservation District— $186,505: This project will install several stormwater BMPs and a stormwater basin retrofit at the Regional Family YMCA parking lot.

-- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy— $122,166: The project will stabilize and improve 1,200 ft. of streambank erosion and instream habitat located on a section of Shannon Run. The funding will improve habitat for fish and aquatic organisms, reduce the overabundance of nutrients, and improve the water quality of Shannon Run.

-- York County--

-- Leg Up Farm, Inc.— $108,000: The project will improve conditions to an unnamed tributary to Codorus Creek and will result in improved water quality. The project will result in 500 LF of stream restoration, 1.2 ac. of wetland creation, a stormwater BMP, and flood reduction adjacent State Route 181.

-- Watershed Alliance of York, Inc.— $103,100: The project will survey, design, and permit approximately 4,100 LF of stream restoration, 1.1 ac. of floodplain benches to be created, and 3.8 ac. of riparian buffer plantings.

-- Horn Farm for Agricultural Education— $141,145: The project will design and permit three restoration projects within the headwaters of Kreutz Creek Watershed, including 2,100 LF of streambank stabilization with 5 ac. of forested riparian buffers, 1 ac. of riparian forested wetlands, and 300 LF of stormwater BMP.

-- York County Conservation District— $105,000: The project will design and permit an approximately 5,000 LF of channel and floodplain restoration. The benefits include sediment and nutrient load reductions, and improving aquatic and terrestrial habits for native fish, plants, and animals when constructed.

-- Other Multi-County Projects--

-- Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy— $450,000: Eroding streambanks will be stabilized and floodplain access restored on agriculturally-impaired streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed portion of DEP's northcentral region through the project. The project will address sediment sources by using BMPs such as exclusionary fencing, stabilized stream crossings, and vegetative stabilization/riparian buffers.

-- Statewide Projects--

-- Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation Development Council— $400,000: The proposed project is a group of service providers that collaborate with watershed and lake management organizations and municipalities to enhance the programmatic and technical skills of these groups to successfully monitor, protect, and restore Pennsylvania's waterways throughout the state.

-- Stream Restoration, Inc.— $352,583: The project will provide watershed groups, nonprofit organizations, conservation districts, and governmental agencies technical assistance related to the monitoring, operation, and maintenance of abandoned mine drainage (AMD) treatment systems.

-- Stream Restoration, Inc.— $268,432: The project will provide watershed groups, nonprofits, conservation districts, and governmental agencies involved with the restoration of AMD impaired watersheds a free, user-friendly, web-based, GIS-enabled data and project management tool to help with monitoring, assessment, evaluation, management, and maintenance of watershed restoration projects with a major emphasis on AMD treatment systems.

Visit DEP’s Growing Greener Plus Grants webpage for more information on this program.

For more information on environmental programs in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s website, Report Emergencies, Submit Environmental Complaints; Click Here to sign up for DEP’s newsletter; sign up for DEP’s eNotice; visit DEP’s Blog, Like DEP on Facebook, Follow DEP on Twitter and visit DEP’s YouTube Channel.