U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri, 8th District

Emerson Announces Projects for Southern Missouri

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today made public the details of earmarks she has requested which are contained in five appropriations bills moving through Congress. Though the legislation has several steps remaining before the projects are signed into law, Emerson is releasing the project details now.

"There can be a very negative stigma against earmarking, but in truth this is a significant way of representing our congressional district. If Congress did not rely on the earmarking process to identify worthy projects at the local level, that duty would fall to government bureaucrats who have never been to Southern Missouri and couldn’t tell you the first thing about the tornado damage in Pemiscot County, for instance. Earmarking is not a question of saving money – the funds get spent regardless of whether there is an earmark or not – it's a matter of spending money wisely and well," Emerson said. "Congress has a very important obligation to the taxpayer to support responsible projects that serve the public interest."

Emerson's requests in the five bills range from flood protection to drug prevention, as well as a project to replace a water tower in Pemiscot County which was destroyed in an April 2006 tornado.

"Clearly, the process of disaster recovery is a long one and, in the case of Caruthersville and Pemiscot County, this is an issue on which I work every day. Similarly, flood protection demands constant advocacy in order to keep safe the people and property in our district who live near areas prone to flooding," Emerson said.

Following are Emerson’s request for earmark projects in the FY 2008 Interior, Energy & Water, Transportation, Commerce-Justice-State, Labor-HHS, and Agriculture Appropriations bills.

FY 2008 Interior Appropriations Bill*

$150,000 Pemiscot Water Storage Tank – replacement of tank

$500,000 Mark Twain National Forest Drug Task Force – operations

FY 2008 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill*

$6,000,000 Wappapello Lake – construction, including work on Hwy. 67

$8,800,000 St. John’s - New Madrid Flood Control Project – construction, box culverts and levee closures

$1,000,000 Bois Brule Drainage and Levee District – construction

$2,600,000 Cape Girardeau Floodwall – construction

$25,000,000 Clearwater Dam Major Rehabilitation – construction

$500,000 University of Missouri - Rolla Distributed Energy Research Center

$3,899,000 Clearwater Lake – operations and maintenance

$783,000 New Madrid County Harbor – dredging and maintenance

$10,000 Caruthersville Harbor – dredging and maintenance

FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill*

$450,000 Southeast Missouri State University – Workforce Development Program

$200,000 Missouri State University – West Plains Academic Support Center

$200,000 Parkland Health Center, Farmington – construction

$200,000 Missouri Delta Medical Center, Sikeston – radiology computerization technology

$100,000 Susana Wesley Family Learning Center, Mississippi County – PASS to Work Program

$350,000 Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium – job skills and health care programs

FY 2008 Transportation Appropriations Bill*

$250,000 Nash Road/Route AB, Cape Girardeau County – construction

$250,000 Route 221, St. Francois and Iron Counties – construction

$250,000 Route 63, Howell and Oregon Counties – construction

$250,000 Route Y, Stoddard County – construction

$500,000 Southeast Missouri State University River Campus – construction

FY 2008 Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Bill*

$250,000 South Central Missouri Drug Task Force

$220,000 Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force

$215,000 Mineral Area Drug Task Force

$1,315,000 Law Enforcement Visual Intelligence Tool – Southeast Missouri Local Emergency Planning District – aerial imagery and geospatial information for search & rescue missions and search & seizure planning

FY 2008 Agriculture Appropriations Bill*

$794,000 – Soybean Cyst Nematode Research – University of Missouri Delta Center, Portageville

$692,377 – Mid-West/Mid-South Irrigation – University of Missouri Delta Center, Portageville

$248,000 – Rice Agronomy – University of Missouri Delta Center, Portageville

$602,000 – Vitis Gene Discovery – Missouri State University, Mountain Grove

$296,500 – Crop and Aquaculture losses in Southern Missouri

$1,596,000 – Food and Agriculture Policy Research Center

$2,495,000 – Congressional Hunger Center

$707,706 – Center for Agroforestry

$1,193,000 – Rural Policies Institute

$851,000 Regionalized Implication of Farm Programs

$698,000 Virtual Plant Database

$295,000 Uniform Farm Management Program

$742,000 Ag in the Classroom

FY 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill*

$2,400,000 – Center for Detection and Neutralization of Electronically-Initiated IEDs

$1,000,000 – Innovative Polymeric Materials for 3-D Microdevice Construction

$1,000,000 – Composite Operational Health and Operational Risk Tracking

$1,000,000 – High-Powered Lightweight Zinc-Air Battery

$1,000,000 – Chemical Biological Protective Shelter

$1,600,000 – Conventional Munitions Storage – Whiteman Air Force Base

*NOTE: none of these measures can be considered final levels of funding as this legislation has not yet secured final passage in the Congress and been signed into law by the president.