[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E354-E356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RANDY NEUGEBAUER

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 25, 2009

  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the House Republican 
standards on Congressional directed spending items, I am submitting the 
following information for publication in the Congressional Record 
regarding spending directed to Texas' 19th Congressional District as a 
result of requests made by those I represent:
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, 
Education and Extension Service: $1,730,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University and Texas A&M 
University
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409 and 
College Station, TX 77843
  Description of Request: The cotton research funding will be used for 
study of genomics and genetic manipulation to increase yield and fiber 
quality, determination of economic factors affecting profitability and 
understanding of cotton marketing forces, study of the integrated 
effects of world market and policy program and development of new 
textile testing and manufacturing technologies. Accomplishments of this 
continuing research, which is authorized as a High Priority Research 
and Extension Area, include (1) plant density and irrigation findings 
that conserve water and enhance producer profitability by $37 million, 
(2) genetic enhancements that increase fiber value and (3) analysis of 
cotton markets, trade and farm policy proposals to determine economic 
impacts on producers.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, 
Education and Extension Service: $946,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University, Center for 
Food Industry Excellence
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409
  Description of Request: The Center for Food Industry Excellence will 
use funds to determine the impact of packaging systems on the food 
safety and quality of meat and poultry products, investigate 
antimicrobial drug resistance in animal production and continue to 
study pre- and post-harvest interventions to determine control measures 
for food-borne pathogens in the food supply. The Center's research has 
already resulted in a pre-harvest food safety intervention that is 
currently being fed to 60% of feedlot cattle in the U.S., evaluation of 
meat packaging systems that have improved the safety and quality of 
meats and poultry and updated data on nutritional composition of 
poultry for use by USDA and nutritional labeling.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, 
Education and Extension Service: $515,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University, Kansas State 
University and Texas A&M University
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409; 
Manhattan, KS 66506; College Station, TX 77843.
  Description of Request: The Great Plains Sorghum Improvement Center 
integrates research efforts at three universities with sorghum 
expertise. Kansas State University leads efforts in agronomic sorghum 
research and development of new uses for sorghum. Texas Tech leads 
market and policy analysis work, and Texas A&M focuses on efficient 
sorghum cropping and production strategies. Research in FY09 will focus 
on genetics and plant breeding to enhance sorghum as a bioenergy 
feedstock, developing more sustainable cropping systems and developing 
new uses for grain sorghum.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service 
Salaries and Expenses: $1,474,000
  Legal Name of Recipient Entity: USDA-ARS Cropping Systems Research 
Laboratory
  Address of Recipient Entity: 3810 Fourth Street, Lubbock, TX 79415.
  Description of Request: The Administration's FY09 budget request to 
Congress proposed to eliminate funding for two research programs at the 
ARS Cropping Systems Research Lab in Lubbock. This request allows 
continued funding of the Lab's sorghum cold tolerance research 
($246,000), which is leading to a better understanding of how drought 
tolerance functions in sorghum and screening techniques to assist plant 
breeders in rapidly identifying and moving those genes into improved 
germplasm. The request also allows continued funding of the Lab's 
Cotton Production and Processing Unit ($1,228,000). The Unit is the 
only ARS facility that works on quality issues related to mechanical 
stripper cotton. The Unit also has a particulate matter analysis lab 
used to support USDA air quality work.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Environmental Protection Agency, State and Tribal Assistance 
Grants: $200,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Lubbock, TX
  Address of Requesting Entity: 1635 13th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79457
  Description of Request: These federal funds, along with a 45% match 
from the City of Lubbock, will be used for engineering costs to enable 
the city to move forward with constructing a terminal water storage 
reservoir and a membrane water treatment plant southeast of Lubbock, 
which will allow the City to make use of an additional water source to 
replace declining water supply. Projections indicate Lubbock, and the 
surrounding rural communities its water system serves, will need this 
water by 2012. This project's total cost is $46 million and also 
includes new pipeline and pump stations; a majority of funding for the 
project comes from state and local sources.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, General Investigations: 
$163,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Abilene, TX
  Address of Requesting Entity: PO Box 60, Abilene, TX 79604
  Recipient Entity: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District 
located at 819 Taylor Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102
  Description of Request: Flooding along Elm Creek in Abilene has 
resulted in federal disaster declarations, most recently in 2002 with 
$6.3 million in damages to residences. Abilene has partnered with the 
Corps on a study of flood mitigation options. Of the total $1.7 million 
cost, Abilene has contributed 50% of the costs, and the Corp committed 
to provide 50%. Prior to FY09, the Corps received $373,000 for this 
study, and this funding brings them close to their share so the study 
can be completed.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy: $1,903,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University's Great Plains 
Wind Power Test Facility
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409
  Description of Request: The Center's research focuses on: testing 
utility-scale wind turbines designed for use in less-energetic wind 
regimes; assessing the risk and effects resulting from exposure to more 
extreme wind events; improving wind turbine design codes; ful-scale 
testing of wind-driven water desalination systems and their associated 
economics; and developing modeling codes for combined wind-water 
systems. FY09 funds, along with $552,000 state of Texas funds and up to 
$1 million in local matching funds, will be used to design, construct, 
instrument, operate and monitor the technical and economic performance 
of an integrated wind-driven water system capable of supplying 1 
million gallons/day of purified water. The module will be capable of 
replication for additional capacity and for adoption in other locales.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources 
and Services Administration: $238,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Muleshoe Area Hospital Center
  Address of Requesting Entity: 708 S First Street, Muleshoe, Texas 
79347
  Description of Request: The Muleshoe Area Hospital Center is a 
Critical Access Hospital that serves a large rural area with a 
population of 17,000 and per capita income of $13,700. The hospital 
provides care to a growing Medicare population, a large number of 
uninsured patients and indigent patients. The hospital has one rural 
health clinic with one physician, and the area has three other family 
practice physicians in two different locations, neither of

[[Page E355]]

which are rural clinics. Funding would go toward the hospital's efforts 
to combine the two clinics and physicians into the hospital's clinic, 
including expanding and renovating the existing facility and new 
equipment. The hospital believes that combining physicians into one 
clinic will provide better health care services, allow mid-level 
practitioners to support physicians and help recruit additional 
physicians to the rural area. The total project cost is $1.7 million, 
and the federal support will supplement local funding.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources 
and Services Administration: $190,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University Health 
Sciences Center
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409
  Description of Request: The Regional Interdisciplinary Simulation 
Center (RISC) at TTUHSC will provide a replica of multiple clinical 
settings and support the learner from student to the life-long learning 
needs of the expert practitioner. TTUHSC has designated approximately 
30,000 square feet for the establishment of a state-of-the-art regional 
simulation center in response to the Institute for Medicine report, 
Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality. The center will 
assist the learner in developing the competencies mandatory to ensure 
patient safety while promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, 
communication, and teamwork. FY09 funds, along with TTUHSC and local 
matching funds, will go toward purchase of human-patient simulator to 
facilitate the development of clinical competencies and judgment of 
students and practitioners of the health sciences; the total project 
cost is $3 million.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources 
and Services Administration: $190,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University Health 
Sciences Center
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409
  Description of Request: The Center of the Study of Addiction and 
Recovery is a unique and comprehensive educational, social support and 
recovery service network for students in higher education who are 
recovering from addictive disorders or who have grown up in families 
impacted by addiction. A main goal of the Center is to serve as a 
demonstration program that can easily be replicated by other 
institutions of higher education. The requested funding will be used 
for programmatic costs, specifically to: (1) determine and maximize the 
most effective methods of peer delivered support and empower persons in 
recovery to deliver these services; (2) provide an alternative peer 
community that combats the current ``culture of drinking'' on college 
campuses; (3) pursue research collaborations to improve programs that 
identify and meet the needs of students in recovery; and (4) develop an 
effective replication strategy and organizational plan to other 
institutions of higher education. The Center is currently working with 
the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Texas-San Antonio, 
the University of Colorado-Boulder and Tulsa Community College to form 
recovery centers at those campuses modeled after the one at Texas Tech. 
A cost share of $369,000 in state and local funds will be used with 
federal funds in FY09.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Transportation, Federal Transit 
Administration, Buses and Bus Facilities: $712,500
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Lubbock/Citibus
  Address of Requesting Entity: Citibus, PO Box 2000, Lubbock, TX 79457 
(806) 712-2001
  Description of Request: The buses will replace vehicles in the 
Citibus fleet that have exceeded their useful life. Many of the buses 
used for Citibus' services will be twelve years old and in need of 
replacement to better serve the Lubbock community. By purchasing hybrid 
electric buses, Citibus will be more environmentally friendly, and be 
less dependent on oil products; current technology electric hybrid 
buses will result in a 40% fuel savings over current usage. This bus 
purchase will be part of a multi-year Section 5309 request. Citibus 
would like to replace the fleet over a five year period at the rate of 
seven to eight buses per year.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Transportation, Federal Transit 
Administration, Busses and Bus Facilities: $456,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Abilene Paratransit
  Address of Requesting Entity: City of Abilene, PO Box 60, Abilene, TX 
79604
  Description of Request: Abilene operates an Americans with 
Disabilities Act-compliant paratransit service for persons whose 
physical or mental disability prevents them from using the accessible 
fixed-route bus service. However, Abilene's ability to meet the need 
for paratransit service is jeopardized due to heavy usage. The City has 
22 vehicles but 18 vehicles have exceeded their Federal Transit 
Administration useful life limits. The City requested assistance in 
replacing five paratransit vans to meet the transportation needs of the 
City's disabled population. City of Abilene will provide a cost share 
of $120,000 for the $600,000 total cost of this project.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account:
  Department of Housing and Urban Development, Economic Development 
Initiatives: $142,500
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Abilene
  Address of Requesting Entity: City of Abilene, PO Box 60, Abilene, TX 
79604
  Description of Request: The Life Sciences Accelerator is a biotech 
facility located in a 20,000+ square foot building that will contain 
leased office space and laboratory facilities and research equipment to 
be ``time-shared'' by biotech company tenants. The Development 
Corporation of Abilene (DCOA), the economic development arm of the City 
of Abilene, has committed $4.85 million to the Accelerator, including 
the building and equipment--about a 95% local share. The Accelerator is 
part of a much larger biotech initiative by the City of Abilene/DCOA 
designed to diversify the regional economy through attraction of high-
paying research jobs. Properly outfitted lease space is needed to 
attract companies that license these discoveries (intellectual 
property) from the new Texas Tech School of Pharmacy in Abilene and 
elsewhere for commercialization. These federal funds will go toward the 
$1 million needed for equipment for the Accelerator, such as an Amnis 
ImageStream imaging flow cytometer, for example, which is available at 
only 35 other sites in the world and will help make the Accelerator a 
``world class'' research facility that attracts private investment and 
jobs.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Transportation, Federal Highway 
Administration, Interstate Maintenance: $475,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: The Ports to Plains Trade Corridor
  Address of Requesting Entity: 5401 N MLK Blvd., Unit 395, Lubbock, TX 
79403 (806) 775-3373
  Description of Request: The Ports to Plains Trade Corridor is vital 
to the infrastructure of West Texas and will provide increased economic 
growth opportunities for Texas, and a recently-completed corridor 
management and development plan produced by the departments of 
transportation of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado projected 
that if completed, the corridor will create 40,000 new jobs with an 
economic impact of $4.5 billion. That will provide a benefit to cost 
ratio of 3:1. Big Spring is currently in the path of the federally-
designated Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor (section 1105(c) of ISTEA). 
While the Corridor will bring increased commerce, the increase of truck 
traffic will pose several safety hazards to the community. This 
commercial truck traffic, interspersed with community traffic along the 
current route, has slowed travel along this part of the Corridor. Due 
in most part to the grade changes and traffic signals, the increase of 
traffic through Big Spring threatens the safety and well-being of the 
city's residents. The US 87 reliever route will increase the fuel and 
speed efficiency when traveling US 87. The Ports-to-Plains Corridor has 
made significant strides in opening an alternative NAFTA trade route to 
the whole United States. This bypass will build on that success while 
resolving many safety and congestion issues.
  Sponsoring Member: Congressman Randy Neugebauer
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cross-Agency 
Support: $500,000
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Tech University
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409
  Description of Request: The Engineering Support for Extended Human 
and Robotic Space Flight Missions initiative will provide engineering 
support for extended human & robotic space flight missions, which will 
directly contribute to NASA's initiative of returning to the moon and 
going to mars. For human and robotic missions the Center for Space 
Sciences is addressing the need for a decreased reliance on mission 
control due to the communication delays that occur in long

[[Page E356]]

distance missions. For human missions the Center is also addressing the 
need for greater autonomy in dealing with the physical needs of the 
astronauts, including long term water recycling, which currently limits 
the habitation period possible without re-supply, and the ergonomics 
and human factors aspects of human performance in zero and reduced 
gravity environments. The major research areas will include recyclable/
renewable water resources, autonomous/renewable control systems and 
ergonomics/human factors crew support.

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