Help to Protect Essential Funds for Clean Water Work
Legislators are listening to our collective voice!
They heard us when we spoke up about the need to preserve clean water funding. HB1822 has stalled and HB2004 holds funding as is for this 5 month budget. Thank you to those who communicated individually! But don’t stop now.
Budget discussions in the fall will bring about more serious economic decisions. Our message is that clean water is an essential goal for PA and Lancaster County and it can contribute to – not hinder – economic recovery.
The Partners is also talking with federal legislators about our collaborative approach in Lancaster County and how funding can support the multi-sector work happening on the ground. To tell that story with appropriate action steps, we need to have a coordinated approach to projects, places, plans, and partners – outreach is underway (thank you to those of you who have been involved so far!) and we will share updates and results as soon as possible!
– Updated June 18, 2020
We need your voice! Contact your legislators today urging them not to support the Senate version of the amendment on HB 1822.
An alarm went off in Lancaster County communities this week when an amendment to House Bill 1822 passed, which would freeze funds to essential environmental initiatives.
For many, this may have slipped by unnoticed. But to those affected by the tag on amendment – environmental professionals, farmers, municipalities, businesses, and countless others – they’re left concerned, angry, and disappointed.
The amendment freezes any contracts for new expenditures from a series of environmental and other funds including the County Conservation District Fund, Keystone Recreation, Park & Conservation Fund, Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener), the Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Fund, Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA), Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority Fund, and PA Infrastructure Bank funds.
These funds fuel essential work that improves the health of our local streams, stimulates small and large businesses, and keeps our communities progressing forward.
We cannot let these funds slip away.
The Lancaster Clean Water Partners is sending letters to legislators, asking them not to support the Senate version of the amendment on HB 1822. Our letter was sent as a collective group and signed individually by steering committee members.
But we need your voice so Lancaster is heard far and wide!
Download
Download the letter and place on your organization’s letterhead. Letter volume is good, but support from multiple organizations across Lancaster County is better!
Contact
Find your legislator’s contact information. You have the option to mail a physical copy of the letter to your representative or copy and paste into his/her contact form. You can also call them.
Share
Share the letter with three other organizations and ask them to also contact their legislators.
We acknowledge that under the current circumstances, the health and safety of individuals and small businesses is the top priority. Many have been severely affected, some devastated. However, the decision to put environmental efforts on the chopping block is not the solution. Our citizens need economic recovery AND clean, healthy, drinkable water.
