By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — President Obama has granted Gov. Tom Corbett’s request for a federal emergency declaration in Pennsylvania (see previous story).

Ruth Miller, spokeswoman for PEMA, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, says the declaration will not bring federal dollars into the state but will spare Pennsylvania from having to reimburse the feds for storm response assistance.

“It basically covers the costs of any resources that we request from the federal government,” she explained, “whether it’s sandbags, the support of personnel, food, water –- it covers the federal government’s costs of bringing that and using those resources to Pennsylvania.”

Miller says the PEMA operations center is now fully up to speed as Pennsylvania prepares for Sandy.