[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 106 (Wednesday, July 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1799-E1800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EARMARK DECLARATION
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HON. JEFF FORTENBERRY
of nebraska
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Mr. FORTENBERRY. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership
standards on member requests, I am submitting the following information
regarding the earmarks I received as part of the FY10 Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Bill:
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Corps of Engineers--Construction
Project Name: Antelope Creek Flood Damage Reduction Project
Amount: $5,697,000
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: Lower Platte South Natural
Resources District located at 3125 Portia Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
68521.
Description: The Antelope Creek Flood Damage Reduction Project is a
critical element of a flood control, transportation and community
revitalization project known as the Antelope Valley Project. The
project is being constructed in central Lincoln adjacent to the
University of Nebraska Lincoln main campus to improve flood control,
transportation networks and community well-being in the city's down-
town area.
Essential to progress on the entire Antelope Valley Project is the
completion of the flood damage reduction component. This multi-purpose
project is a partnership of the City of Lincoln, the University of
Nebraska Lincoln, and the Lower Platte South Natural Resources
District, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the federal
Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. The
project reduces flooding threats to over 800 dwellings and businesses
and 1,200 floodplain residents and removes 100-year floodplain
restrictions on 400 acres.
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Corps of Engineers--Construction
Project: Sand Creek Environmental Restoration Project
Amount: $500,000
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: Lower Platte North Natural
Resources District located at 511 Commercial Park Road, Wahoo, Nebraska
68066.
Description: The Sand Creek Project will restore several types of
historic wetlands and add to the national wetlands inventory in support
of the Administration's ``net gain'' national wetlands policy. A
quantitative analysis of all environmental outputs by the Corps of
Engineers in addition to the Feasibility Study demonstrated a
significant level of benefits for this wetland restoration project for
the Lower Platte River watershed which serves the North American
Central Flyway.
The Sand Creek Project supports the national goal of a net gain in
American wetlands. Active pursuit of this goal also provides for
improvements in water quality and water supply to achieve watershed
improvement. Flooding in Wahoo along the U.S. 77 Expressway corridor
occurred twice during 2006. Completion of the wetlands restoration
structure will also provide flood damage reduction benefits on the
roadway allowing completion of this expressway between Lincoln and
Sioux City. This is a key segment of the expressway.
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Corps of Engineers--Construction
Project: Western Sarpy-Clear Creek Flood Damage Reduction Project
Amount: $1,000,000
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: Papio-Missouri River Natural
Resources District located at 8901 S. 154th Street, Omaha, NE 68138.
Description: The Western Sarpy-Clear Creek Flood Damage Reduction
Project is vital to the health and well-being of a large number of
Nebraskans. It is planned to protect vital drinking water resources
that supply up to 50% of Nebraska's population in the eastern part of
the state from flooding due to potential ice jams on the Platte River.
Elected officials at local, regional and state levels in Nebraska have
been long committed to this project's construction because of risk to
water supplies and other infrastructure.
Significant construction progress towards completion is vital to
Nebraska in the year ahead. The Congress has provided construction
funding for the past four years in the Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Act.
In 1993, flooding in the Lower Platte severed one-half of the City of
Lincoln's water supply and catastrophe was again threatened in 1997
from ice-jam induced flooding. That portion of the new Omaha
Metropolitan Utilities District well field on the western side of the
Platte River now under development south of U.S. Highway 92 will also
receive vital protection from this project. Treatment facilities for
water from this well-field will be completed in the months ahead.
Additionally, this project is needed to provide protection to: I-80
and U.S. Highway 6; the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, an
Amtrak line; military facilities the National Guard Camp at Ashland;
national telecommunication lines; and other public infrastructure.
Construction of a separate but companion levee at the Nebraska
National Guard Camp at Ashland was fully funded by the Congress in the
FY '04 Military Construction Appropriations Bill and is completed.
Neither of these adjoining levees is effective without the other. Ice
jams with the potential for flooding in the area around Camp Ashland
and the I-80 Bridge where it crosses the Lower Platte River occurred
again as recently as 2001 and will continue to be a significant threat
until both of these projects are completed.
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Section 205
Project Name: Fremont Section 205 Flood Control Study
Amount: No specific dollar amount
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: Lower Platte North Natural
Resources District located at 511 Commercial Park Road, Wahoo, Nebraska
68066
Description: This funding is for the federal share to complete the
Fremont South Section 205 Flood Control Study. Funding for this Section
205 project will continue urgent feasibility planning to strengthen an
existing flood control levee in order to remove a portion of South
Fremont from the threat of flooding in the 100 year flood plain. This
Fremont South area will be soon identified by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (``FEMA'') as within the designated flood plain. The
total cost of the project is $1,086,000 split equally between the Corps
of Engineers and the nonfederal sponsor.
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Section 205
Project Name: Schuyler Section 205 Flood Control Study
Amount: No specific dollar amount
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: Lower Platte North Natural
Resources District located at 511 Commercial Park Road, Wahoo, Nebraska
68066
Description: This funding under the Section 205 authority is for the
federal share to continue the Schuyler, Nebraska Flood Control Study.
The amount requested will continue the Schuyler, Nebraska 205 Flood
Control Study. The purpose of the study is to plan for mitigation of
flooding in 40% of the city which is anticipated to be placed in the
flood plain for the first time when designated by FEMA. The total cost
of the study is $772,000 split equally between the Corps of Engineers
and the non-federal sponsor.
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Energy Efficiency and Renewable--Energy
Project Name: Sustainable Energy Options for Rural America
Amount: $500,000
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
located at 302 Canfield Administration Building, Lincoln, Nebraska
68588
Description: This funding would be used to research the most
effective sustainable energy options for rural Nebraska and to
establish
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demonstration sites which will include the UNL Panhandle Research and
Extension Center in Scottsbluff, the West Central Water Resources Field
Lab near North Platte, the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory near
Whitman, and two sites in eastern Nebraska. Alternative energy
technologies to be considered include wind, solar, anaerobic digestion
(methane generation), gasification, direct burning of biomass, fuel
cells, diesel engines converted to high compression ethanol engines,
hybrid vehicles, and flex-fueled engines. Fuels to be considered
include gasoline, diesel fuel, ethanol, biodiesel, dimethyl ether,
butanol, and syngas. Energy independence is one of our highest national
priorities. This project addresses the need to pursue development of
diverse, sustainable alternative energy sources.
Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Bill Number: H.R. 3183, FY10 Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill
Account: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Project Name: Switchgrass Biofuel Research: Carbon Sequestration and
Life Cycle Analysis
Amount: $250,000
Name and Address of Requesting Entity: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
located at 302 Canfield Administration Building, Lincoln, Nebraska
68588
Description: The funding would be used to establish a production-
scale switchgrass carbon sequestration and life cycle analysis research
program. Research will focus on optimizing switchgrass production for
use as a biofuel and developing improved life cycle analysis tools to
determine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for federal compliance
certification of refineries processing switchgrass into ethnaol.
In the Midwest, switchgrass appears to be the most viable cellulosic
feedstock for biofuels because it is a highly productive native grass
species. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) requires
that switchgrass biofuel systems meet a threshold reduction in GHG
emissions of 60% compared to gasoline, and the Environmental Protection
Agency will establish regulations based on the best available science.
Initial life cycle analyses suggest switchgrass systems will only meet
EISA thresholds if they sequester a substantial amount of carbon in
soil. This analysis could be altered if switchgrass producers increase
inputs (water, fertilizer, etc). Quantifying switchgrass carbon
sequestration under varying input requirements is vital to developing
this source of cellulosic ethanol.
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