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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Dan Surra |
  
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Surra announces environmental education grant for St. Marys Area
HARRISBURG, Aug. 13 – State Rep. Dan Surra, D-Elk/Clearfield, said the St. Marys Area School District will receive a state grant for $3,000 to assist with its environmental education efforts.
Surra said the grant, awarded through the state Department of Environmental Protection's Environmental Education Grant Program, will allow the district to purchase a solar panel to be used in the school district's outdoor classroom and to power a golf cart, power tools and work area lighting.
"Not only will this demonstrate to students how newer, cleaner energy sources can be used to replace traditional, more expensive sources of electricity, but it also will save the school district money," Surra said. "Introducing a new generation of young people to these concepts is an important part of our state's – and our nation's – strategy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and other sources of energy that are finite and harm the environment."
The Environmental Education Grant Program was created by the legislature in 1993. The program is open to school districts, private schools, nonprofit groups and county conservation districts to help them fund new or expanded environmental education programming both for students and the general public.
The grant program is funded by 5 percent of all pollution fines and penalties collected by DEP. To date, the agency has awarded more than $6 million in grants through the program.
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