Contact: Rob Ostrander and Shana Marchio 202.224.5721
Thursday, June 29, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent announced that they secured millions in federal funds for critical projects in Missouri to further energy development, flood control, environmental restoration and modernize water transportation in the Senate Appropriations Committee-passed energy and water spending bill.

“These funds will help our nation meet future energy and water transportation demands. Also, it is critical that we meet Missouri's flood protection and environmental needs," said Senator Kit Bond, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I am committed to delivering key funding for critical projects in Missouri," said Sen. Talent. “This funding will help update and maintain important water infrastructure, flood protection and environmental projects. These projects are necessary for future economic growth in communities around the state."

Bond and Talent secured the funds in the fiscal year 2007 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which funds water projects under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and energy projects within the Department of Energy. The spending bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning. Before being signed into law the bill must be passed by the full Senate and reconciled with the House of Representatives' bill.

Highlights of the funds Bond and Talent secured include:

* Locks Modernization - Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation System for pre-construction engineering and design of new locks ($20 million)

* Navigation Improvements - Missouri River Bed Degradation in Kansas City Reach ($300,000), Mississippi River between the Ohio and Missouri Rivers Regulating Works Project ($7.56 million)

* Energy Development: Biodiesel Engine Testing Program - $1.5 million; University of Rolla Energy Research and Development Center - $1 million to develop environmentally clean alternate energy sources; Missouri Forest Foundation - $400,000 to study the conversion of wood waste to energy

* Port Maintenance - New Madrid County Harbor ($660,000), New Madrid Harbor ($200,000), Caruthersville Harbor ($350,000)

* Flood Control - Chesterfield Levee Project ($1.4 million), St. Johns Bayou-New Madrid Floodway ($10 million), Bois Brule ($1.56 million), Missouri River Levee System Units L-455 and R460-471 ($350,000), St. Francis River and Tributaries ($6 million), Blue River Basin ($2 million), St. Louis Flood Protection ($519,000), St. Francis Basin ($3 million), Blue River Channel ($9 million), Swope Park Industrial Area ($158,000), Little River Diversion in Dutchtown ($205,000), Kansas City Metropolitan flood protection system ($750,000), Blacksnake Creek in St. Joseph, Charleston, Jefferson City Missouri River Levee MRLS L-142 ($100,000), Clearwater Major Rehabilitation Project at Clearwater Lake ($25 million), Harry S. Truman Lake Stilling Basin Repair ($8.173 million), Ste. Genevieve ($375,000), Mississippi River Levees ($69 million), Brush Creek Basin ($150,000), Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Plan ($784,000), Chariton River Basin ($100,000), Little Blue River Basin ($100,000), City of Springfield at Jordan Creek ($310,000), White River Basin ($200,000), James River in Greene County

* Environmental Restoration - Missouri River Recovery Project ($55 million), Missouri Stream Restoration Pilot Project, Missouri and Middle Mississippi Rivers Enhancement Program, Duck Creek in Stoddard County, Blue Valley Wetlands Ecosystem Restoration, Jackson County, Upper Mississippi River Restoration ($16 million)

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