PennFuture goes to Washington

On March 5, PennFuture staff will be heading to Washington, D.C., for the Choose Clean Water Coalition’s third annual Bay Day on the Hill. In our efforts to improve water quality in the Susquehanna River and, in turn, the Chesapeake Bay, it is essential for us to engage with our elected officials.  Members of the Coalition will be requesting support for programs that are essential to maintaining and restoring clean water throughout the Bay watershed.

We will be seeking funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program, which is a regional partnership comprised of federal and state agencies, local governments, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions that leads and directs restoration of the Bay. The majority of the Bay Program’s funds make their way to states and local communities for important on-the-ground restoration work through programs like the Small Watershed Grants (SWG), Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants (INSR), State Implementation Grants, and the Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Program grants.

The INSR grants have supported approximately 122 on-the-ground conservation projects that provide innovative approaches to accelerating adoption of cost effective and sustainable nutrient and sediment pollution reductions throughout the watershed. The SWG grants have supported approximately 229 conservation projects that contribute to improving water quality throughout the watershed and to the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay.

We will also be seeking support for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), which provides low interest loans to local governments in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia for capital construction projects at wastewater treatment facilities and nonpoint source pollution control from farms and development. Almost 1,800 local governments are eligible for these loans and over the past twenty-five years, the CWSRF has provided over 33,320 low interest loans.

Meeting with elected officials is something we do as advocates for the environment because it’s important to educate, engage, and hold accountable the folks who make the decisions that impact us all. But it’s not something just for us to do -- it’s something all citizens should be doing. Whether your concerns are clean water, clean air, sustainability, or renewable energy, speak up! Contact your elected officials and tell them what matters to you and why it matters.

To quote Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.