[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 191 (Monday, December 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E 2279]]


  CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2099, DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND 
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 1996

                                 ______


                           HON. FRED HEINEMAN

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 4, 1995

  Mr. HEINEMAN, Mr. Speaker, earlier I engaged in a colloquy with my 
good friend, Chairman Jerry Lewis of California regarding the prospects 
of building a new facility for the Environmental Protection Agency 
[EPA] at the Research Triangle Park [RTP], North Carolina. Once again, 
I would like to thank Chairman Lewis for his expression of support for 
this facility, and I would like to submit for the Record the following 
letter from EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner indicating that a 
proposed new RTP facility for the EPA would save the taxpayers millions 
of dollars and provide the most realistic, cost-effective option for 
meeting the EPA's research needs. I commend this letter to the 
attention of my colleagues.
                                       United States Environmental


                                            Protection Agency,

                                 Washington, DC, December 1, 1995.
     Hon. Fred Heineman,
     House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Heineman: I am writing to express my 
     appreciation for your continued support for a new 
     Environmental Protection Agency building in Research Triangle 
     Park, N.C. As you know, construction of the new laboratory 
     building will consolidate Agency functions now scattered in 
     seven outdated, leased facilities spread across a 15-mile arc 
     in the RTP area. The facility remains the Agency's top 
     laboratory construction project.
       As you noted in your November 29 colloquy on the House 
     floor with House Appropriations VA-HUD Subcommittee Chairman 
     Jerry Lewis, building a new facility is the most realistic, 
     cost-effective option for the Agency. The Agency continues to 
     maintain that new construction will bring the most savings to 
     the taxpayers and deliver the best science to the American 
     public and environmental policy makers. All independent cost 
     studies solicited by the Administration have supported 
     construction on Federally-owned land over any leased facility 
     option; the most recent concluded that direct Federal 
     construction would save the government $154 million over 30 
     years.
       It would seem irresponsible to continue to throw away 
     millions of dollars in rent for substandard leased facilities 
     when we can construct a consolidated state-of-the-art lab on 
     Federally-owned land that will meet EPA's research needs and 
     save taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
       Again, thank you for your support of this important 
     project.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Carol M. Browner,
     Administrator.

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