Several Businesses Awarded the Pennsylvania's Small Business Advantage Grant program

Harrisburg - The Department of Environmental Protection has awarded $239,809 in grants to help 32 small businesses across Pennsylvania invest in energy-efficiency or pollution-prevention projects.

"Becoming energy-efficient can involve an initial up-front investment that will be proportionally higher for small businesses," DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. "The investment will pay for itself and more over time, but this program makes that transition more doable for Pennsylvania's small business owners."

Pennsylvania's Small Business Advantage Grant program, funded through the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act, helps businesses with 100 or fewer employees. It provides 50-percent matching reimbursement grants of up to $9,500 to implement projects that will save 25 percent annually in pollution-prevention or energy-related costs. Since 2004, the program has invested $7.25 million in 1,720 small businesses statewide.

Of the $1 million in grants budgeted for the current fiscal year, this is the second of three announcements of selected grantees. The 32 new grants will create $812,987 of private-sector investment in small businesses.

Examples of eligible projects include high-efficiency HVAC and insulation upgrades, high-efficiency lighting to save energy, installation of energy-efficient heat pumps and new auxiliary power units that help large trucks reduce time spent with idling engines.

For more information about the Small Business Advantage Grant program, contact DEP's Office of the Small Business Ombudsman at 717-772-8909 or via email at epadvantagegrant@pa.gov.

Media contact: Amanda Witman, 717-979-0218 (mobile)

Editor's note: The 32 businesses that were awarded grants are listed below, alphabetically by county, with the project location and award amount.

Berks

Green Hills Home Center - $9,500

Bucks

Pine Run Construction - $9,500

Delaware

K & C Cleaners - $8,487

Erie

Beth's Flowers - $3,447

Tetra Tool Co. - $9,500

Lackawanna

ABC Kiddie Kampus - $3,648

Electric City Inc. - $9,500

Lear Von Koch MD & Associates - $4,000

Troy Mechanical Inc. - $3,797

Lancaster

New Holland Bulk Carriers LLC - $4,350

Lehigh

Hertz Associates Inc. - $6,500

Lynar Corp. - $7,147

Sellair LLC - $9,500

Luzerne

ADS Dry Cleaners - $9,500

Mattern Flower Shop - $4,567

Nicholas Truck Sales - $6,939

Skitco Manufacturing Inc. - $1,512

Lycoming

Ken Bergren Inc. - $8,925

Mercer

Chadderton Trucking - $8,700

Northampton

Nazareth Mutual Insurance Co. - $9,500

Tower Products Inc. - $9,500

Philadelphia

Betty Brite Cleaners - $9,500

Cupcake House - $8,905

Select Cleaner - $9,500

Yis Sam's Cleaners - $9,500

Schuylkill

Losch Boiler Sales and Service - $ 9,500

Rubright Domalakes & Troy - $9,500

Venango

Klapec Auto Body - $9,500

Voyten Electric and Electronics Inc. - $9,500

Westmoreland

Grumpy's Truckin' - $4,350

York

R.J. Shoff Trucking - $9,500

Wayne Nell and Sons Meats - $2,535

(from DEP)