FINALIZED FY2010 INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL
RETAINS FUNDING FOR MISSISSIPPI PROJECTS
Cochran Serves as Negotiator to Complete Work on Public Lands & Environmental Measure
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) was among the negotiators who today finalized the FY2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill (HR.2996), a measure that will provide funding for natural resources management and environmental projects in Mississippi.
Cochran, as ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and as a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, served on the conference committee that on Tuesday completed reconciling differences in House and Senate-passed versions of HR.2996. The measure now requires final approval in the both houses of Congress before it can be signed into law.
“I am pleased this legislation has cleared a crucial hurdle,” Cochran said. “The Senate and House have worked to produce an appropriations bill that for Mississippi will address some of the environmental and natural resources management needs we have in the state.”
The bill includes $2.0 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to continue development of the Holt Collier Visitor and Interpretive Center at the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
Another $800,000 is provided to continue support for the Center for Bottomlands Hardwoods Research, a cooperative effort that includes the Southern Hardwood Lab at Stoneville, the Forest Hydrology Lab at Oxford, Seed Biology Lab at Starkville and Alexandria Forestry Center at Pineville, La.
The conferees also agreed to retain $2.25 million in Environmental Protection Agency grant funding to support water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades for four Mississippi municipalities, three counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Overall, HR.2996 funds national agencies and programs such as the Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Land and Water Conservation Fund, National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Finally, the conference committee also included a continuing resolution (CR) to the bill, which will give Congress until Dec. 18 to try to complete unfinished appropriations measures.
The following items of interest to Mississippi are included in the Senate-passed FY2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill:
Public Lands and Natural Resources Agencies
- Holt Collier Visitors Center, Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex – $2.0 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for development of the visitors center
- Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, University of Mississippi – $900,000 to advance, in partnership with the Minerals Management Service, research on marine minerals
- Center for Bottomlands Hardwood Research, Stoneville – $800,000 to continue Forest Service scientific research focused on wetland forests and associated stream ecosystems
- Natural Resources Economic Enterprises Program, Mississippi State University – $350,000 to continue the promotion of sustainable conservation practices
- Coalition for Advanced Wood Structures, Mississippi State University – $250,000 to support MSU participation in the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory coalition to advance research on the strength and durability of certain forest product structures
- Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge – $500,000 for a land acquisition project through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Natchez National Historical Park – $264,000 for a land acquisition project through the National Park Service
Environmental Protection Agency
Funding through the EPA State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) program to support water and sewer infrastructure upgrades was approved for the following communities:
- Tunica County – $400,000
- Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians – $380,000
- Hinds County – $300,000
- City of Pearl – $277,000
- City of Batesville – $275,000
- City of Carthage – $275,000
- City of Ridgeland – $200,000
- Leflore County – $143,000
Save America’s Treasures
- City of Jackson – $250,000 to support the rehabilitation of the office used by civil rights leader Medgar Evers for use as a library and museum
- Madison County – $500,000 for restoration of the historic Madison County Courthouse
During Senate consideration of the bill, Cochran cosponsored an amendment accepted by the Senate that could make $250,000 available to support the Civil Rights History Project, which was created by Congress earlier this year.
Congress authorized the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to begin a five-year project to collect the personal histories of people involved in the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1968. Cochran also cosponsored the Senate legislation that authorized this project.
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