Pennsylvania DEP Accepting Applications for Environmental Education Grants

Deadline to Apply is Dec. 18

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of
Environmental Protection today invited schools, universities, county
conservation districts, nonprofit organizations and businesses to apply for
2010 Environmental Education Grants.

"These grants fund projects that explore many of today's most pressing issues
-- from developing alternative energy sources to capturing and storing
carbon," said Jack Farster, DEP's environmental education director.
"Providing opportunities for all Pennsylvanians to increase their
understanding of environmental issues promotes life-long stewardship."

The grants provide funding to create or develop projects that support
environmental education about such timely and critically important topics as:
-- Sustainable energy sources and technologies, including solar, wind,
hydro, microhydro, biomass, geothermal, alternative transportation
fuels
and energy efficiency and conservation;
-- Air quality, with a focus on improvements in transportation and
electric
generation to reduce ground level ozone or smog;
-- Watersheds and wetlands, focusing on abating abandoned mine drainage,
reducing non-point source pollution and enhancing water conservation;
-- Chesapeake Bay watershed education with a focus on reducing nutrient
and
sediment loads, point and non-point source pollution reduction; and

-- Carbon capture and storage including geologic and or terrestrial
sequestration.

Grants are awarded for up to $7,500. The deadline to apply is Dec. 18.

In August, DEP awarded 60 grants totaling more than $356,723 to groups in
support of environmental education programs across the state. Since the
program's inception, the department has awarded more than $7 million in
grants.

The program was established by the Environmental Education Act of 1993 and
mandates that 5 percent of all pollution fines and penalties collected
annually by DEP be set aside for environmental education.

Applications are available by contacting DEP's Environmental Education Grants
Program, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063.

For more information, visit www.dep.state.pa.us keyword: "EE Grants," or call
717-772-1828.

Media contact: Susan Rickens, (717) 787-1323

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Susan Rickens, of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protecti,
+1-717-787-1323