The PA Land Trust has announced that Governor Ed Rendell is proposing that Pennsylvania cut $132 million dollars out of the state budget’s environmental fund. This cut would essentially eliminate:
- Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund
- Growing Greener (the Environmental Stewardship Fund)
- farmland preservation program and more
The PA Land trust explains what this could mean and how YOU can help. Please do your part to preserve Pennsylvania!
If this proposal moves forward — and it will unless conservationists push back hard — there will be NO state money for community parks, open space protection, farmland preservation, community-centered environmental restoration and other conservation efforts. There will be NO Growing Greener grants, NO Keystone grants, NO allocations for counties for farmland preservation.
Tell your state senators and representatives to take a stand against any budget that would cut these critical sources of funding. Instead of raiding environmental funding, the General Assembly should raise additional funds by levying a severance tax on natural gas drilling, with a significant portion dedicated to Growing Greener.
PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY:
1ST ACTION – Call your state representative and senator and demand that they stop the raid on environmental funding. Tell them that these funding sources are critical to your community’s well being. Tell them that environmental programs have already undergone far more than their fair share of cuts in recent years.
2ND ACTION – Follow up with an email and old-fashioned letter.
3RD ACTION – Get as many people as you can to do the same. We have to put immediate pressure on legislators and keep the pressure up as the budget enters a critical negotiation stage.
Only strong outcries from many people can stop this. Pennsylvania needs your voice!
