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HRG coordinator: Blair County has reduced phosphorus loading and has $308,000 projected for 2026 CAP funding
Summary
Jordan Whitmer of HRG told the Blair County Planning Commission that the county has reduced phosphorus loads to the Chesapeake Bay, outlined eligible BMPs under the Countywide Action Plan, and described recent grant awards including $624,955 in Growing Greener funds and $848,000 spent from 2022–2025; he urged municipalities to partner on stormwater and agricultural projects.
Jordan Whitmer, a CAP coordinator with consulting firm HRG, told the Blair County Planning Commission that the county’s Countywide Action Plan (CAP) work is showing measurable water-quality progress and that the program will continue to rely on a mix of state and federal grants and local partners.
“Blair County has successfully reduced the amount of phosphorus they need loading into the Chesapeake Bay,” Whitmer said, citing the county snapshot returned from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The CAP sits under the Chesapeake Bay watershed implementation plan (WIP) and aims to reduce sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus by increasing best management practices (BMPs) such as riparian buffers, cover-crop incentives, wet ponds, rain gardens and bioretention, Whitmer said. He described eligible agricultural and urban BMPs, and explained HRG’s role: technical assistance, mapping, site visits, grant aid, and helping counties spend block-grant funds on projects.
Whitmer highlighted recent funding wins: Blair County was awarded $624,955 in Growing Greener funding for manure-storage facilities and received roughly $848,000 under the last block-grant agreement (2022–2025), of which about $783,000 had been spent as of his presentation. He said the next five-year block-grant minimum allocation is $200,000 and that Blair County had a projected 2026 award of $308,000.
Whitmer urged municipalities and the Blair County Conservation District to identify shovel-ready projects so they can be added to block-grant or Growing Greener applications. He said HRG can provide preliminary cost opinions and mock plans for rain gardens, stormwater retrofits and other BMPs to make projects more competitive for DEP funding.
Commissioners asked how long certain priorities (such as rain gardens) would remain eligible over a five-year grant cycle; Whitmer said the new grant timelines are intended to better align Growing Greener announcements and block-grant application windows so counties can spend funds before they expire.
What happens next: Whitmer offered to coordinate with Donna Fisher at the Blair County Conservation District on project selection and to provide technical assistance to municipalities that request CAP coordination.
