Portage gets $8.6M for sewer work as Langerholc joins PENNVEST board

Jan. 13—The Portage Area Sewer Authority has received more than $8.6 million in state funding to repair and improve its sewer system and prevent sewage overflows from reaching the Conemaugh River.

State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Richland Township, helped approve the funding on Thursday, his first day as one of the voting members of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) board.

The size of the grant came as a surprise to Don Squillario, chairman of the Portage Area Sewer Authority.

"It was a total shock to me (that) this much grant money came for an $8 million project," he said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, appointed Langerholc to the board of PENNVEST, which routinely administers hundreds of millions of dollars in low-interest state loans and repayment- free grants to local governmental agencies for vital infrastructure projects.

The PENNVEST board approved funding for projects across Pennsylvania on Thursday, including two projects in Langerholc's 35th Senatorial District. In addition to the Portage project, more than $3 million was approved for the Curwensville Municipal Authority in Clearfield County for sanitary sewer infrastructure rehabilitation.

In a contrast to what those agencies are used to receiving from PENNVEST, a majority of that state funding was awarded in the form of grants that the municipal authorities do not have to pay back.

PENNVEST funding is routinely awarded for infrastructure projects as a combination of loans and grants. Government agencies typically expect PENNVEST funding to come in the form of a loan with a 1% interest rate and a 240-month payback schedule. In addition to the loan, a portion of a project's cost may be funded by a PENNVEST grant requiring no repayment.

This time, that formula was reversed.

Of the total $8.6 million in PENNVEST funding issued to Portage, $1 million is a loan and more than $7 million is a grant that's repayment- free. Similarly, Curwensville Municipal Authority's $3.1 million award includes a loan of $637,200 and a grant of $2.5 million.

"I don't think anybody expected this," Squillario said. "We got more than $7 million in a grant that doesn't need to be paid back and a little over a million in a loan. It's like Christmas all over again. ... I appreciate the senator's work. It's always nice to have a local representative or senator who can work for you."

Portage's sanitary sewer system is 100 years old and contains lots of terra cotta pipes that allow for stormwater infiltration and overflows at the sewage treatment plant. The solution involves replacing terra cotta pipes with plastic pipes to seal out stormwater.

The state invested a total of $236 million for 25 drinking water, wastewater and stormwater projects across 17 counties through PENNVEST on Thursday, a press release from Gov. Tom Wolf said.

The funding for the projects comes from a combination of sources, including state funds approved by voters, Marcellus Shale legacy funds, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, federal grants to PENNVEST from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and recycled loan repayments from previous PENNVEST funding awards.

As a PENNVEST board member, Langerholc said he would continue to advocate for projects in his district.

"There is a certain amount of money to go around the commonwealth," he said. "As a PENNVEST member, we have a duty, obviously, to the whole commonwealth, but I also have a duty to the 35th District and the constituents that sent me to Harrisburg. There were some very good projects awarded throughout the state, and these are two excellent projects within our district."

He said that local municipalities and governmental authorities can expect his lines of communication to be open.

"My office is here to serve and to advocate for these projects," he said, "and to help them along the process, from navigating PENNVEST's complexities to providing letters of support and coming out to understand the needs of the community, which makes it easer to advocate for these projects."

Outside Langerholc's district, another project in south-central Pennsylvania got PENNVEST funding on Thursday. The Bedford Township Municipal Authority received loans for two projects — a $5 million loan to extend a public drinking water system to approximately 130 homes in Bedford Township, and a $7.4 million loan to install new sewer line as part of a sewer system extension.