[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RODNEY ALEXANDER

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 15, 2009

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership 
standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information 
regarding earmarks I received as part of the Commerce, Justice Science, 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, H.R. 2847.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 2847
  Department of Commerce--NOAA ORF
  Louisiana State University located at 156 Thomas Boyd Hall, Baton 
Rouge, LA 70803.
  The Louisiana Geodetic Spatial Reference Center; $700,000. The goal 
of this project is to establish a Coastal Risk Management Institute to 
build the practices associated with living in coastal environments in 
the US and around the world through new partnerships in science, art 
and architecture and policy with engineering that reduces coastal 
hazards and enhances societal resiliency. This goal of the Institute is 
made possible by the alignment of coastal resiliency, infrastructure 
development and emergency management. Coastal resiliency is providing 
communities with accurate guidance of risks and ways that regional 
planning through housing development, landscape architecture, 
transportation systems and policy can be integrated to building smarter 
neighborhoods in the future to cope with increasing challenges of 
coastal landscapes. Infrastructure development includes designing both 
built and natural assets of coastal regions that must be integrated to 
provide protection, restoration, and economic development in ways that 
provide for more sustainable development. Emergency management includes 
forecasting, preparing, responding and mitigating the disaster events 
that occur in coastal regions. You can see how all three features of 
the proposed Coastal Risks Management Institute that is integrated to 
focus on reducing the risk of living and doing business in our 
critically important coastal margins is of national interests. The 
institute will consist of the following: LSU Coastal Sustainability 
Studio--A think tank that will harness earth, ecological and 
environmental systems research with engineering and landscape 
architecture to develop new concepts, knowledge, skills and problem 
solving approaches to be implemented in coastal regions around the 
world. LSU Hurricane Center--The Center will be leveraged with existing 
localized efforts in coastal hazards modeling and observation systems 
to provide the knowledge needed for a more integrated approach in 
coupling earth surface dynamics with storm surge modeling; work on 
toolkits to provide operational services and information during coastal 
hazard events; work with disaster management to improve community 
resilience and serve emergency managers in operational mode. LSU 
Coastal Systems Engineering Laboratory--CSE Laboratory is an integrated 
join enterprise amount science, engineering and high-performance 
computing communities of the region that has implications for increased 
capability of forecasting dynamic earth systems using new investments 
in sensors, observations, modeling and cyber infrastructure. The CSE 
Laboratory will pioneer the development of an integrated modeling 
system to support the needs of coastal system science and engineering.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 2847
  Department of Commerce--NOAA ORF
  Southern Regional Climate Center, 260 Howe-Russell Building, Baton 
Rouge, LA 70803.
  NOAA Regional Climate Center program; $850,000. The funding will be 
used to continue and enhance the vital climate data services performed 
by the NOAA Regional Climate Centers (RCC). The RCC program was 
authorized by the 1978 National Climate Program Act. The RCCs are 
administered by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and 
Information Service (NESDIS) and the National Climatic Data Center 
(NCDC). The program has been in existence since the mid-1980's and has 
been funded by Congress every year since its inception. There are six 
regional centers located in New York, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, 
Nevada and North Carolina. The six RCCs are an integral part of the 
NCDC's three tier national climate services support program, which 
includes the NCDC, the RCCs and state climatologists. The RCCs are the 
only entities in the country--public or private--that provide this type 
of climate data, analysis and information services. The Federal 
government, as well as State and local agencies, rely on the climate 
services the RCCs provide and have no other resource for this 
information. The funding is for ongoing program expenses, which include 
salaries/benefits, equipment, supplies, travel expenses, journal page 
charges, stakeholder workshops, and indirect costs.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 2847
  Department of Justice--COPS Tech
  Louisiana Sheriff's Association, 1175 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge, 
LA 70802.
  Law Enforcement Technology and Equipment; $300,000. This funding 
request is for equipment for a new project and is a onetime expense. 
This funding is for the proposed LSA Institute, which will serve as an 
education and training center for local and state law enforcement 
officers. This funding will serve dual purposes in providing critical 
technology such as video, audio and communication equipment used for 
training / education purposes and real life emergency responses. In 
addition, the LSA Institute will also serve as a hub for the Louisiana 
Sheriffs' Emergency Task Force, a task force comprised of deputies 
across the state who respond to emergency events when needed. The LSA 
Institute will be housed at 1175 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 
70802. The LSA is uniquely positioned to perform this function as it is 
governed by the Sheriffs, and it is the Sheriffs who have the greatest 
Constitutional responsibility for law enforcement and public safety at 
the local level, and who have the manpower necessary to cover such 
functions. Additionally, the long history of cooperation and 
coordination among LSA, the Chiefs of Police, and other local first 
responder agencies, as well as the state, make this project a logical 
next step toward providing this training (i.e. emergency response, 
FEMA/DHS rules and regulations, etc.) and securing the resources 
necessary to respond to the next catastrophic event in a timely, well 
organized manner.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 2847
  Department of Justice--COPS Meth
  City of Bastrop, LA, 202 East Jefferson, Bastrop, LA 71221.
  Bastrop-Morehouse Parish Meth Initiative; $650,000. The City of 
Bastrop is seeking funds to expand efforts to combat methamphetamine 
production and trafficking and to enhance policing initiatives in 
``drug hot spots''

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