Thursday, June 29, 2006

(SPRINGFIELD) U.S. Senators Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) today announced they have secured $1,975,000 for the Southwest Missouri Water Quality Improvement Project in the Interior Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007. The Senators’ request was approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“Improving water quality in Missouri is a top priority” said Sen. Talent. “These funds will be used to put in place critical infrastructure that will serve as a catalyst for economic development. Sen. Bond and I have been working together to provide the resources necessary to improve water infrastructure in Southwest Missouri. Getting this funding approved in committee was a critical step, now I will continue pushing for it when the bill comes to the floor of the Senate.”

“With these funds Senator Talent and I are making good on our pledge to address Southwest Missouri’s water quality, a critical environmental issue in this region,” said Senator Kit Bond, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “The quality of the water in our streams and lakes is important not only to the future of our environment but is also integral to the regional tourism economy. It is important that we work together to protect this precious natural resource”

The funds for the Southwest Missouri Water Quality Improvement Project will provide for a third year of research and examination of water quality issues in Southwest Missouri. In both FY 2005 and FY 2006, Senators Talent and Bond secured $1.5 million as part of a five-year effort to assess the regions resources to make future water management decisions.

Senators Talent and Bond’s funding request passed the Senate Appropriations Committee, and must be passed by the full U.S. Senate and reconciled with the House of Representatives’ bill before being signed into law.

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