But we've eliminated the job-crushing, community harassing ,regulatory nightmare of the past. We've done that with more money for soil conservation districts so that we can think about watersheds, county-wide. We've done it with a state-wide geographic information system so that we can better share information with one another. And we've done that with Pennsylvania's new industrial site reuse program. With it, we've given the tools to local communities to make smart choices about land use decisions.
Nobody wants to see farmlands and greenfields given up to suburban sprawl or industrial development.
Not when there is land that has already been developed, land that stands empty and vacant, land that already has the benefits of location and infrastructure that can be used again. I am proud of the fact that state government is now able to work with local communities to clean up these sites and make them usable again. And we've completed cleanups at 35 of those sites. Clean ups that put abandoned sites back into productive use. Clean ups that allow existing businesses to continue operations.