PROCLAMATION

EARTH DAY

April 22,1998

WHEREAS, Water is one of Pennsylvania's most precious and basic resources, and its protection is critical to our existence. Pennsylvanians use 14.3 billion gallons of this resource every day, with almost all of it returned to the environment for reuse. Recreation and tourism, the second largest industry in Pennsylvania, is bolstered by clean streams that attract anglers from across the nation who contribute more than $1.34 billion annually to the commonwealth's economy; and

WHEREAS, the improper respect for the force and power of water can lead to disaster. This neglect has led to billions of dollars in flood related property damage and hundreds of deaths in Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, the early days of the Industrial Revolution imposed great burdens on our water resources through mining, timbering and water use for industrial and domestic waste disposal; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvanians expressed their concern for water resources in 1971 by amending Article I, Section 27 of the state constitution to guarantee to every citizen the right to "pure water." Pennsylvania has renewed their commitment and adopted an environmental protection philosophy that emphasizes the prevention of pollution and strives toward a goal of "zero pollution"; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is using new and innovative ways to achieve these new goals. Through unprecedented interstate cooperation to protect the Chesapeake Bay, by creating the Senior Environmental Corps so older Pennsylvanians can work with young citizens to monitor and protect watersheds, by implementing a Nutrient Management Program to control runoff from farm fields, and by cleaning up abandoned mine lands through watershed-based state-local partnerships, citizens throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will make these goals a reality; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is implementing new policies to prevent flood damage by moving people off flood plains and encouraging stormwater planning, thereby reducing the potential for damage; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Center for Environmental Education and its eleven member agencies and organizations have adopted an environmental theme for 1998 that urges people to work with their schools and communities to protect and enhance watersheds throughout the Commonwealth under the theme "Do Your Share — Care About Water!"

THEREFORE, I, Tom Ridge, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do hereby proclaim April 22, 1998, EARTH DAY in Pennsylvania.

GIVEN under my hand and the Seal of the Governor, at the City of Harrisburg, this fourteenth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight and of the Commonwealth the two hundred and twenty-second.

TOM RIDGE
Governor