PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER: (614) 644-2160
MEDIA CONTACT: Mike Settles
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Ohio EPA Awards Environmental Education Grant for Northeast Ohio Conservation Campaign

The Conservation Crusader campaign in Northeast Ohio will continue through 2013 thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund. The grant was awarded to the Western Reserve Resource Conservation and Development Council – one of nine Ohio communities and organizations to receive a total of $350,000 to support environmental education programs.

Western Reserve RC&D will use the money to continue producing, promoting and airing Conservation Crusader video segments on WKYC-TV and elsewhere in Cleveland. The videos are part of a broader effort to raise environmental awareness throughout Northeast Ohio. The organization also will use social media to promote places of environmental or natural significance in the region.

Western Reserve RC&D is a nine-county nonprofit organization sponsored by soil and water conservation districts and county commissioners. The organization emphasizes environmental education through regional projects, such as the highly regarded 2008 Entrepreneurial Farming and Environmental Sustainability in Northeast Ohio project, also funded through the Ohio Environmental Education Fund.

The Ohio Environmental Education Fund is administered by Ohio EPA. Grants up to $50,000 are funded from one-half of the civil penalties collected by the Agency for air and water pollution control violations. For additional information, contact the Ohio Environmental Education Fund on the web or at (614) 644-2873.

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The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1972 to consolidate efforts to protect and improve air quality, water quality and waste management in Ohio. In the past 40 years, air pollutants dropped by as much as 90 percent; large rivers meeting standards improved from 21 percent to 89 percent; and hundreds of polluting, open dumps were replaced with engineered landfills and an increased emphasis on waste reduction and recycling. Ohio EPA….40 years and moving forward.