| Senate Approves Bill Funding Mississippi Projects |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today voted for Senate passage of the FY2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which includes funding for a planned visitor center for the Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge and other projects around the state. The bill, HR.2996, was passed on a 77-21 vote. Cochran, who is ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and serves on the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, will now serve on the conference committee that will reconcile differences in the House and Senate-passed versions of this bill. “The projects included in this bill for Mississippi are designed to enhance our appreciation for the natural resources and environment we live in, whether that appreciation takes the form of tourism, research, protection or preservation,” Cochran said. “I look forward to reconciling our bill with the House, and getting it enacted as soon as possible,” he said. The bill includes $2.0 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a visitor and interpretive center at the Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge, which is affiliated with the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The measure also includes $2.25 million in Environmental Protection Agency grant funding to support water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades for four Mississippi municipalities, three counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Funding was also included in the bill for national agencies and programs such as the Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Land and Water Conservation Fund, National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The following items of interest to Mississippi are included in the Senate-passed FY2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill: Public Lands and Natural Resources Agencies · Holt Collier Visitors Center, Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex – $2.0 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for development of the visitors center · Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, University of Mississippi – $900,000 to advance, in partnership with the Minerals Management Service, research on marine minerals · Center for Bottomlands Hardwood Research, Stoneville – $800,000 to continue Forest Service scientific research focused on wetland forests and associated stream ecosystems · Natural Resources Economic Enterprises Program, Mississippi State University – $350,000 to continue the promotion of sustainable conservation practices · Coalition for Advanced Wood Structures, Mississippi State University – $250,000 to support MSU participation in the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory coalition to advance research on the strength and durability of certain forest product structures Environmental Protection Agency Funding through the EPA State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) program to support water and sewer infrastructure upgrades was approved for the following communities: · Tunica County – $400,000 · Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians – $380,000 · Hinds County – $300,000 · City of Pearl – $277,000 · City of Batesville – $275,000 · City of Carthage – $275,000 · City of Ridgeland – $200,000 · Leflore County – $143,000 Save America’s Treasures · City of Jackson – $250,000 to support the rehabilitation of the office used by civil rights leader Medgar Evers for use as a library and museum · Madison County – $500,000 for restoration of the historic Madison County Courthouse During Senate consideration of the bill, Cochran cosponsored an amendment accepted by the Senate that could make $250,000 available to support the Civil Rights History Project, which was created by Congress earlier this year. Congress authorized the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to begin a five-year project to collect the personal histories of people involved in the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1968. Cochran also cosponsored the Senate legislation that authorized this project. |