[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

                                 ______
                                 

                         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

[[Page E1800]]

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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