Pennsylvania, a state (I mean commonwealth - excuuuse me!), has a glorious industrial past. With that has come years of pollution.

While many people see environmental remediation as a function of health and safety, Pennsylvania also sees site remediation as a means of staying competitive in the international work place. In other words, a green earth produces the other kind of green - more money.

Pennsylvania ranks a dismal 42 in the nation on job growth and has one of the slowest population expansion rates in the nation. The State is emphasizing its environmental focus as just one part of its initiative to reverse these trends.

"Growing Greener II" is an environmental reform proposal being set forth by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. All in all, millions of dollars have been proposed by the government on this mixed environmental/pro-economy initiative.

Eighty million dollars has been proposed for river restorations and other water improvements. One hundred and forty million dollars has been proposed for brownfields restoration and other land use initiatives, including mine reclamation. The reclamation of abandoned mines has been a significant environmental issue for the last two decades.

One hundred and seventy million dollars has been proposed to improve the state's parks, riverfronts and to promote smart growth initiatives. And 80 million dollars is proposed to support new environmental technologies such as solar energy and wind farms.

According to the Governor's office, this is being proposed because Pennsylvania believes that it will be more competitive in the global workplace if it makes its state a healthier place to live and play. In other words, cleaning the environment isn't just an environmental initiative. Its also part of an economic initiative plan.

The state believes that when corporations decide where to create new plants and where to relocate, one of the things they look at is quality of life and related lifestyle issues. Pennsylvania is proactively attempting to position itself to gain increasing favorable treatment in this important arena.

If you don't know Pennsylvania, you need to visit this state. It is truly blessed with abundant, very beautiful natural resources. One fact that's impressive to me is that it has 3.8 million acres of parks, forests and game lands. This is larger than the state of Connecticut.

Does environmental protection count in the world of economic and job growth? Of course it does. It counts for all of the traditional and well known reasons. It makes our lives better and it makes all of us healthier people.

And as Pennsylvania has acknowledged, there's clearly an interrelation between a good environment and a healthy business economy.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.