I am hard-pressed to recall a more important piece of legislation, one that provides the far-reaching solutions for revitalizing our region and state, than is found in the proposed Growing Greener II initiative. The measure would offer critical funding to revitalize the health of Pennsylvania's rivers and streams, while taking direct aim at an issue that has long plagued our commonwealth: abandoned mines, acid runoff and contaminated brownfields. It would preserve open space, farmland and forests while improving state parks and game lands. Growing Greener II seeks solutions for bringing businesses to small towns and aid in developing alternative energy sources such as wind farms and solar cells.

		Cynthia Carrow is executive vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (www.paconserve.org).

And by next week, Growing Greener II could very well be gone.

Our representatives in Harrisburg have a very brief window of opportunity to act on these urgent needs -- just the few working days left in the legislative calendar before the lawmakers adjourn for Thanksgiving and end their 2003-2004 legislative session.

Environmental funding has been under consideration since last February when Gov. Ed Rendell proposed the $800 million Growing Greener II bond in his budget address. Growing Greener II represents a comprehensive approach to Pennsylvania's environmental problems. To be precise: 1,857 threatened farms on the farmland preservation waiting list; more than 3,000 miles of lifeless, orange streams; and 11,000 pieces of property contaminated with toxic chemicals. All this can be addressed through Growing Greener II.

Some projects, like Nine Mile Run, could see funding threatened just as restoration work is beginning to realize its full potential. Nine Mile Run begins at Frick Park and runs 6.5 miles through Edgewood, Swissvale, Wilkinsburg and part of the city of Pittsburgh, before draining into the Monongahela River. During wet weather, Nine Mile Run is overloaded with water, causing stream bank erosion and degrading animal habitat. Sewage often overflows into the stream, which limits human recreation. During dry weather, the water level is often unnaturally low, leaving nowhere for aquatic insects and fish to live. If the restoration is left incomplete, our stream will continue to suffer from serious water quality issues and degraded habitat for fish and other wildlife, and will remain inhospitable for human recreation.

Despite all the frustrating delays, dedicated Pennsylvanians have kept Growing Greener II alive. Tens of thousands of people last spring contacted their legislators to advance Growing Greener II.

The good news is that last spring state House and Senate leaders promised to address the issue this fall. They created a Green Ribbon Commission to recommend funding and they said they wanted to put a bond before the voters in the spring of 2005.

In mid-October the new commission met and again heard about the public need for these bread-and-butter programs received a thick notebook full of documentation about leaking dams, threatened farmland, blighted properties and more. Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Franklin, who co-chaired the meeting along with Rep. William F. Adolph Jr., R-Springfield, told the commission members to turn in their top three program funding priorities along with ideas of where to get the money.

A survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Alliance for Restoration and Conservation indicated that the public is behind this issue and is not limiting the means by which it is funded.

A town meeting will be held tomorrow at Hampton Middle School in Allison Park from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. that will attempt to bring together southwestern Pennsylvania residents and their representative legislators to discuss Growing Greener II. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and several area watershed and environmental groups are sponsoring this important event.

As the legislative session days dwindle, Growing Greener II deserves to be a top priority for the governor and General Assembly. Every day that passes without it is another day when we lose another 300 acres of Pennsylvania's beautiful open space and farmland.