In accordance with Senate Appropriations Committee rules to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the appropriations process, the following requests have been submitted to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration for inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations bills. The requests are subject to review and consideration by the respective Appropriations subcommittees. The requests are posted in order of subcommittee deadline and posted in alphabetical order.
Name of Project: Fayette County Reservoir
Corps District(s): Mobile District
Project Cost: $40,000,000
Description of Purpose and Need for Request: This project will provide a reliable source of high quality water to meet the current and future needs of northwest Alabama. Funding will construct a surface water supply reservoir to provide potable and residential water and support industrial and economic development for Fayette County, West Walker County, South Marion County, and East Lamar County, Alabama. The affected areas have no adequate rivers, streams, or other suitable long term water supply. Due to geological and geographic conditions in this area, limited water resources in Fayette County have hampered the County’s efforts to provide public water service to all its residents. Also, the lack of a dependable supply of water in this area impedes future growth. The reservoir will provide the County with necessary water resources to serve all of Fayette County and surrounding counties in need of additional water supply.
Name of Project: Guntersville Landing
Corps District(s): Nashville District
Project Cost: Language
Description of Purpose and Need for Request: The City of Guntersville is requesting an amendment to the Water Resource and Development Act of 1976 removing the TVA deed restrictions from the former Kinder Morgan Terminals Property which is currently owned by the City of Guntersville. This property consists of 2.33 acres and 700 feet of waterfront which is adjacent to the Guntersville City Harbor. The TVA deed restrictions require that the property only be used for shipping, manufacturing or storage of products. The removal of these restrictions would enable the city to develop the land and utilize the pier located on this property. This property will provide immediate access to Guntersville from the boat traffic traveling up and down the river and will promote the growth and development of adjoining properties around the harbor. TVA has expressed its support for this request and has provided the information needed to accomplish the removal of these restrictions through the WRDA. The City of Decatur had property with the identical TVA deed restriction and they were removed in this same manner.
Name of Project: Mobile Ship Channel Passing Lane Study
Corps District(s): Mobile District
Project Cost: $2 Million
Description of Purpose and Need for Request: The request is to authorize a funded study to assess the feasibility of constructing a passing lane on the Mobile Ship Channel, a federally authorized deepwater ship channel at the Port of Mobile and under the jurisdiction of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District. In July 2010, a new federally authorized Mobile Harbor Turning Basin will be completed to support Post-Panamax vessels transiting the Mobile Ship Channel and calling on three new or expanded public terminals at the Port of Mobile. These public terminals represent $500 million in capital investment serving the coal, steel, and containerized freight industries in the 9th largest U.S. Seaport.
Name of Project: U.S. Gulf Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Effects Study
Corps District(s): Mobile District
Project Cost: $5,000,000
Description of Purpose and Need for Request: The U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastline in the U.S. Corps of Engineers Mobile District, including Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, will experience near term and long range impacts associated with the DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL ACCIDENT. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will require authorizing language to assess the oil spill impacts on dredging operations, dredge material disposal practices and dredge material disposal area management, and environmental restoration projects within the federal project area of Mobile District. This request is consistent with USACE Policies or Directives. The authorizing language of Congress and the federal government should direct that study cost expenses may be recoverable from BP.
Name of Project: Wiregrass Regional Reservoir
Corps District(s): Mobile District
Project Cost: $141,100,000
Description of Purpose and Need for Request: Southeast Alabama is completely dependent upon groundwater for its water supply. Projections indicate that municipal, agricultural, and industrial demands will double by 2050. Drought conditions, such as experienced in recent years, place an even greater strain on available groundwater resources. Studies conducted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and the Geological Survey of Alabama conclude the existing groundwater resources are not adequate to satisfy anticipated future demand for water in southeast Alabama. The COE has determined a surface water reservoir would best serve the long-range water needs of Coffee, Dale, Geneva, and Houston Counties, the most heavily populated areas and the counties which have the most immediate and critical water shortages. All of the studies have been funded by the Watershed Management Authority and have involved representatives of the counties experiencing the shortages and who continue to be actively involved in this effort.
Project Name: Senior Transportation Program, AL
Recipient: The Alabama Association of Area Agencies on Aging
Location: Anniston, AL
Amount: $1,000,000
Purpose: The Alabama Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the Alabama Department of Senior Services are charged with the development and coordination of programs and services to improve the quality of life for Alabama’s elderly and disabled citizens and their caregivers. Access to needed services and community resources (including employment) is essential to improve the lives of these people. This program has proven to be effective over the past several years and has been able to put more vehicles, safer vehicles, and handicapped accessible vehicles into rural areas of the state that had no previous public or specialized transportation programs. There are still many areas of the state in need of adequate public transportation. This request will allow the Alabama Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the Alabama Department of Senior Services to expand and improve their ability to provide transportation services to the state’s most frail populations.
Project Name: Martin Road Expansion from Zierdt Road west to Laracy Drive
Recipient: City of Huntsville
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $12,500,000
Purpose: The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decisions will relocate 4,500 employees onto Redstone Arsenal by 2011. Widening of Martin Road is required to relieve congested and unsafe traffic conditions and provide improved access to the Arsenal. Major access roads on Redstone Arsenal are already at or beyond maximum design capacity as a result of major construction since 1992 and personnel relocation of 7,500 workers to the Arsenal in the late 1990s. If this project is not provided, access roads to and from Redstone Arsenal will continue to be incapable of supporting the consolidation of personnel on the installation. Traffic delays and accident rates would thus increase on the installation's major roads.
Project Name: New Runway at Lanett Municipal Airport – Phase II
Recipient: City of Lanett, Chambers County
Location: Lanett, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: This project is the second and final phase of the Lanett Municipal Airport runway expansion project. The existing runway length of 3,148 feet is inadequate to service the corporate air traffic needs of this area. A longer runway is necessary to support the growing aviation needs of the local area driven in part by the construction of the KIA Motors Corporation automobile manufacturing plant 4 miles away in West Point, Georgia. A longer runway will boost economic development in the area and attract tier one auto parts suppliers who will need an adequate airport to support increased air travel.
Project Name: Air Cargo Apron Expansion, International Intermodal Center
Recipient: Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Requested Amount: $1,000,000
Purpose: Phase IV of the International Intermodal Center expansion completes the funding of the Master Plan providing an additional air cargo apron for the operation of the previously funded air cargo facility. This project will benefit residents in the region through job creation, commerce expansion, and it will serve as an incentive to prospective businesses considering relocation to the area. Madison County’s unemployment has consistently been the one of the lowest in the State due to Huntsville’s thriving business and research community. Allowing for further airport expansion incentivizes further growth in the region.
Project Name: Affordable Housing Rehabilitation
Recipient: Rosedale Court
Location: Tuscaloosa, AL
Amount: $10,000,000
Purpose: This funding will be used to rehabilitate a distressed housing community in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Funding will go toward the renovation and reconstruction of the existing housing units in a manner that promotes safety and security.
Project Name: University of Alabama Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Teaching and Research Corridor
Recipient: University of Alabama
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Amount: $15,000,000
Purpose: This facility will be a part of a larger research center on the University of Alabama campus. It will focus on research related to the health sciences, including: Environmental Health Science, Biomedical Imaging, Bioengineering, Biomolecular Products, Occupational Health, Rehabilitation Engineering/Assistive Technology. Students and faculty in the College of Engineering at the university are actively addressing global and domestic challenges including projects on bio-imaging for breast cancer detection, biomaterials for tissue scaffolding, development of bio-agent sensors, and wireless networking of biosensors. These funds will be used by the university to engage in state-of-the-art, cutting-edge research that will benefit individuals throughout the southeast and ultimately the nation.
Project Name: Advanced Commercial Technology Insertion for Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering
Recipient: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile, Research, Development and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by AEgis Technologies Group, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $6,000,000
Purpose: This project proposes to enhance the capabilities and efficiencies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, aviation, and missile testing by inserting commercial technology to leverage advances made in the private sector. The funding will be used to complete development and demonstration for systems that will show cost savings, reduce development time for future missile development programs, increase aircraft survivability, and increase mission effectiveness of unmanned systems.
Project Name: Advanced Prognostic Capabilities System for Unmanned Aerial Systems (APCS-UAS)
Recipient: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile, Research, Development and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by Frontier Technologies, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama and Auburn, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: In conjunction with Auburn University, this project will develop and demonstrate the Advanced Prognostic Capabilities System for Unmanned Aerial Systems. This project will enable the warfighter to detect when an unmanned aerial system must be serviced before launch, make assessments of on-ground mission readiness, and allow in-flight corrective actions, providing real-time operational and maintenance benefits.
Project Name: Army Responsive Tactical Space System Exerciser (ARTSSE)
Recipient: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile, Research, Development and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by J2 Technologies, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $3,000,000
Purpose: The Department of Defense is looking for new and existing technologies to replace aging or disabled satellites. If the current deficiency is not addressed it will adversely affect the overall program schedules while increasing cost and risk to upcoming flight tests. Funding for this program provides support in architectural analysis and simulation to determine if the technology will meet these needs. The Army will then determine, based on the data obtained by this analysis, what technologies would work best.
Project Name: Collaboration for Improved Missile Assessments
Recipient: Defense Intelligence Agency, Missile and Space Intelligence Center (Project Proposed by SPARTA dba Cobham Analytic Solutions)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $4,000,000
Purpose: The Office of Naval Intelligence and the Missile and Space Intelligence Center are responsible for the engineering analysis, assessment, modeling and simulation of a variety of foreign threat systems. This project would provide collaboration between these intelligence agencies to enable better quality and timeliness of intelligence support to our Combatant Commands’ planning and operations activities by sharing hardware and software analysis tools for the purpose of enhancing direct intelligence support.
Project Name: Cyber Assurance Tool Set
Recipient: U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (Project Proposed by Davidson Technologies)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: Funding would provide a capability to safely embed weapon systems in a cyberspace threat environment to ensure unprecedented levels of situational awareness, data distribution, and operational coordination. This project gives warfighters a proactive posture to operate network embedded weapon systems in a hostile cyberspace environment. Warfighters can rapidly operate net-centric capabilities with confidence that reported data will be timely, accurate, and decisive.
Project Name: Cyberspace Technology Integration
Recipient: U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (Project Proposed by QinetiQ North America)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $8,000,000
Purpose: The Department of Defense depends on the secure and effective performance of global networks and interconnected systems, requiring the integrity and trustworthiness of components, sub-systems, and supporting services. This project will seek to address the security of complex military systems using cyber capabilities through an integrated process of systems analysis, modeling and simulation, attack scenarios, testing, operational implementation, and training. Cyberspace Technology Integration will provide tools, services, and infrastructures to prepare, plan, test, and create simulated exercises in cyberspace to establish cyber mission readiness.
Project Name: Damage Tolerance Improvement and Monitoring for Condition Based Maintenance (CH-47 MOD)
Recipient: Program Executive Office Aviation (Project Proposed by Avion, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $4,670,000
Purpose: Worldwide Army aviation missions expose helicopter components to harmful environmental conditions and operational loads. Once damaged, components are removed from service, usually well before reaching the designed retirement life for the part. The effect is higher component removal rates, shorter component lives, and the subsequent increases in maintenance and overhaul costs. As a result, the Army has an urgent requirement to reduce the susceptibility of these components to minor damage and develop a capability to monitor actual component loads. This project would address these issues, improving the maintenance, supply and operational readiness of aviation units worldwide, providing operational readiness, improved maintenance efficiencies, and reduced operation and sustainment costs without compromising flight safety. The result will provide technology to ensure that serviceable supplies and equipment are not prematurely removed due to repairable damage and will reduce costs by using existing technologies to monitor loads and improve damage tolerance of components – increasing component lives and operational readiness and reducing the maintenance burden.
Project Name: Detection Algorithms and Software for Force Protection
Recipient: Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (Project Proposed by Prometheus, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $3,000,000
Purpose: This project would utilize algorithms and software to detect, identify, and alert military forces and local civilian populations to Improvised Explosive Devices and their triggers, tripwires, and remote detonators. Improvised Explosive Devices are currently a major threat to the U.S. military and civilian populations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The program would transition current detection algorithms and software to enhance specific force protection sensors while reducing the Improvised Explosive Devices false alarm rate and increasing warfighters’ operational confidence.
Project Name: Enhanced – Rapid Tactical Integration for Fielding of Systems Initiative
Recipient: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile, Research, Development and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by PeopleTec, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $6,500,000
Purpose: Funding will leverage and evolve existing efforts to enhance interoperability testing for the Software Engineering Directorate. The project will establish an Open-System Distributed Development and Test Architecture to meet critical software reliability needs and interoperate with the test environment to perform reliability testing. This project will increase the Army’s internal capability to reduce technology integration risks and platform life cycle operation and sustainment costs to provide a more effective and efficient test environment.
Project Name: Integrated Cyber Test and Evaluation Environment
Recipient: U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation Training and Instrumentation, Army Threat Systems Program Office (Project Proposed by COLSA Corporation)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $9,300,000
Purpose: Threats to U.S. forces and information systems are increasing daily. The Army needs to be able to provide realistic cyber threat representations to operational forces and developmental programs, and has a requirement to standup an integrated operational environment for space and cyber threats that will be integrated with other centers that rely on this information. The Integrated Cyber Test and Evaluation Environment will form the framework for a single, comprehensive environment to support all Threat Systems Management Office customers.
Project Name: Intelligence Collection Management Tool Follow-on Development
Recipient: DIA/Missile and Space Intelligence Center (Project Proposed by DESE Research, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: Significantly improved sensors and new platforms used to collect data have shown the capability to collect previously unavailable intelligence data. This project would improve efficiency and responsiveness of the Missile and Space Intelligence Center’s (MSIC) foreign missile intelligence collection requirements identification. Funding for this project will continue the development and implementation of automated tools to assist MSIC and will provide analysts in managing all-source collection requirements. Results will optimize and streamline the process of locating both surface and air-based sensor assets to gather critical intelligence data on foreign missile launches and deployments.
Project Name: Laser Reconnaissance Intelligence and Telemetry (LARIAT)
Recipient: Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Project Proposed by FastMetrix, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $2,500,000
Purpose: This project would provide for the real-time processing of 3D light detection and data to deployed combat units. The data derived from this processing would identify certain classified features that recognize friendly and hostile forces, providing our warfighters with a 3D perspective of their environment. The LARIAT program would rapidly process and distribute 3D Light Detection And Ranging images to tactical and special operation forces that do not currently have this data available.
Project Name: On-Board Vehicle Power Systems Development
Recipient: Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (Project Proposed by DRS-TEM)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $6,000,000
Purpose: The military continues to add electronic equipment to both its tactical and support vehicle fleets. However, most vehicles have limited capability to produce sufficient power to support the growing electronic requirements. Funding for this program would benefit both the Army and Marine Corps in delivering a significant percentage of the mobile and exportable electric power for their vehicles.
Project Name: Rapid Response Hostile Fire Detection and Active Protection of Ground and Air Vehicles Sensor Demonstration
Recipient: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by Radiance Technologies, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: There is an immediate and critical need at forward operating bases in Afghanistan to detect and locate projectile and missile threats both for perimeter security and to protect Army vehicles. Funding for this program will enable the Army’s Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center to integrate and demonstrate hostile fire detection sensors with the Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle, providing an unmanned hostile fire surveillance platform. This will support our ground troops with coverage and protection in rugged, inaccessible terrain.
Project Name: Self-Separation Technologies for Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Recipient: U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by Dynetics, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: The U.S. military increasingly relies upon unmanned systems to perform combat missions and persistent surveillance of the battlefield. The dramatic rise in the use of unmanned aircraft increases the probability of collision with manned platforms, increasing risk to both personnel and equipment. Self-separation technologies are needed to allow unmanned aerial systems to avoid other aircraft in their airspace. Funding for this project’s self-separation technologies will build upon current sense and avoid efforts and algorithm development to form an integrated air picture.
Project Name: Swarms Defense System
Recipient: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (Project Proposed by Computer Sciences Corporation)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $6,000,000
Purpose: This program will satisfy the need to protect soldiers and critical assets against enemy fire, especially high volumes of small munitions such as mortars and rockets. Funding for this project will provide improved protection against high volume, low tech munitions, as well as cruise missile and larger caliber rocket threats. The Swarms Defense System’s objective is an intercept solution to be deployed or launched in varied configurations, adapting to the threats facing our warfighters.
Project Name: Advanced Algorithm, Integration, and Maturation (AAIM)
Recipient: Marshall Space Flight Center (Project Proposed by Millennium Engineering, Inc.)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: The AAIM project provides NASA and the International Lunar Network project with an advanced algorithm development and integration capability that enables the rapid testing and development of the Lunar science needs. This software/hardware integration center will provide the platform to develop, integrate, and test advanced flight algorithms for lunar lander testing, science mission planning, and execution. The use of modeling-based software development will significantly reduce cycle time, provide a close link between models and actual flight software, reduce program risk and cost, and enhance the flexibility and robustness of NASA flight algorithms.
Project Name: Airborne Sensor for Disasters and Environmental Monitoring
Recipient: University of Alabama in Huntsville
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $3,000,000
Purpose: Current disaster or emergency response times in the US and around the world are often delayed by late-arriving or imprecise information. This project will develop and construct a highly portable, airborne imaging system for remote sensing of the environment and natural disaster mitigation. This system will deliver critical information during periods of environmental stress or disaster, and aid in building a baseline of data for understanding the nature and frequency of these disasters – some which are only apparent by observing slow changes over time. This system will be able to simulate a variety of US, international, and commercial data sources, but with much better image clarity. The program will improve state, national, and international data acquisition by providing faster access to critical data needed by emergency responders and environmental scientists than is currently available.
Project Name: Computer Forensic, Victim Restitution, and Drug Prevention Initiatives
Recipient: Alabama District Attorneys Association
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Amount: $4,300,000
Purpose: This funding will provide assistance to the Alabama District Attorneys Association to combat three growing criminal trends. First, funding will assist in the continuation of the computer forensics lab program which was created to address all forms of computer crime such as: child pornography, fraud, and identity theft. Currently, the Alabama District Attorneys are the only law enforcement agency handling, exclusively, computer crime cases from investigation to prosecution. The computer labs utilize working relationships with federal, state, and local agencies across the nation. The labs have made a tremendous impact on computer crime and are enabling local and state law enforcement personnel to utilize yet another tool in the prosecution of criminal activity. Second, the extremely successful Zerometh campaign will be continued throughout the state. Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive and violent drug that has found its way throughout the nation with a particularly large impact on Alabama’s small towns and rural areas. The Zerometh program disseminates information to expose meth and its deadly consequences to teens and young adults. The goal is to stop a potential first-time user from ever trying the drug, while encouraging everyone to look for the warning signs and support treatment. Finally, funding will be used to implement the Victim Restitution Recovery Initiative. This program provides critical support to victims through enforcement of restitution payments from an offender to the victim of crimes.
Project Name: Alabama Department of Forensic Science
Recipient: Alabama Department of Forensic Science
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Amount: $3,000,000
Purpose: The State of Alabama’s Department of Forensic Science (ADFS) provides scientific assistance to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies investigating criminal cases in Alabama. ADFS is also the forensic support unit for law enforcement agencies in the State that do not have DNA and forensic capabilities. This funding will help reduce DNA backlogs throughout Alabama and is critical to support law enforcement activities.
Project Name: Computer Forensics Institute and Lab
Recipient: Troy University
Location: Pike County, Alabama
Amount: $980,000
Purpose: This project will expand the work of the Alabama Computer Forensics Institute and Lab to enhance awareness of cybercrime techniques and practices, to provide training opportunities on computer forensics and electronic systems security, and to develop a lab for examination of cybercrime incidents. The University’s Information Technology department aggressively engages in the active deterrence of cybercrime within its electronic resources. The University will develop a forensics methodology research institute to foster awareness of forensics methodologies and techniques. It will train security personnel and law enforcement in the proper forensics methods and test and develop new forensics approaches and apparatuses. It will maintain a forensics lab for examination of digital evidence and collect intrusion data from the global network for security trend/threat analysis. It will expand its current participation in a number of national security projects and training summits to provide specialized consultation services for forensics services and security audits.
Project Name: Development of Characterization Techniques for Advanced High Temperature Materials in Space Launch Applications
Recipient: Marshall Space Flight Center (Project Proposed by Southern Research Institute)
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Amount: $2,000,000
Purpose: The severe environments that will be encountered in currently planned NASA launch systems and other challenging aerospace applications require the use of advanced composites in both structural and thermal protection systems. These composites exhibit complex mechanical, thermal, and degradation behavior that is highly dependent on the outside environment. Because of the demand for materials and technology to survive the rigorous environments encountered in advanced launch systems, orbital reentry, and other challenging aerospace applications, this project will be used to develop advanced modeling, testing, and characterization techniques for advanced composite materials in extreme environments.
Project Name: High Temperature Materials Research and Development for Crew Exploration Vehicle and Crew Launch Vehicle Initiatives
Recipient: Alabama A&M University Research Institute
Location: Normal, Alabama
Amount: $2,000,000
Purpose: A dedicated High Temperature Carbon-Composite Laboratory will be created within Alabama A&M University Research Institute’s Advanced Space Propulsion Materials Research Center to provide for advanced high temperature materials research and development that will support NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle and Crew Launch Vehicle initiatives.
Project Name: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Teaching and Research Corridor
Recipient: University of Alabama
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Amount: $30,000,000
Purpose: The future economic viability of the State of Alabama requires a globally competitive workforce that is highly trained in the sciences and engineering. This funding will construct an interdisciplinary science and engineering building to complete a Science and Engineering Corridor at the University of Alabama. The existence of new interdisciplinary research space will increase the effective size of the various research groups. A larger “critical mass” of researchers in key areas improve competitiveness for individual investigator research grants, multi-investigator research grants, and educational and research program grants. The interdisciplinary laboratory space will facilitate the larger, multi-investigator programs and projects that will be prominent in future scientific endeavors.
Project Name: Nanotoxicology
Recipient: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Amount: $1,000,000
Purpose: There has been considerable interest in the use of nanoparticles for numerous industrial and biological applications. During the last ten years, nanoparticles have been used extensively in water purification, building of new generations of superfast computers, and in various biomedical applications. Presently, little is known about the short and long term toxicity of nanoparticles to biological systems. In particular, pulmonary toxicity is of primary concern since nanoparticles can be inhaled accidentally or instilled deliberately in the lungs for various medical applications. In addition, the lungs are continuously perfused with about 6 liters of blood per minute; thus some of the nanoparticles which have either aggregated forming large complexes or adhered to red cells may be trapped in the pulmonary capillaries. This funding will be used to research the basic mechanisms by which nanoparticles damage lung tissues as well as identifying the short and long term physiological effects to fetal, newborn, and adult mammalian lungs. Given the widespread use of nanoparticles, results from this research will identify specific agents to limit toxicity, therefore allowing more widespread use of these agents in industrial and biomedical applications.
Project Name: NASA Space Nuclear Power Systems Research & Development
Recipient: Marshall Space Flight Center (Project Proposed by Maximum Technology Corporation)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: Marshall Space Flight Center is researching nuclear technology to support sustained missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. To achieve this mission, safe, abundant, and affordable power will be required. Nuclear power technology is the most promising source of power to meet future mission requirements. This project will support conceptual design studies, advanced component technology, and non-nuclear system testing to create a roadmap for fission surface power technology development leading to manned flight applications supporting moon and Mars power requirements. NASA has identified fission surface power as a priority for their long-range objectives for flexible manned or unmanned missions.
Project Name: NOAA Independent Data Collection
Recipient: Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Location: Dauphin Island
Amount: $4,000,000
Purpose: NOAA is continuing to implement severe catch limits on the fishing industry putting many fishermen out of business based on faulty data. Today, NOAA is not using independent data to make determinations about the health of the fish population before it imposes restrictions on fisherman. Current fish stock measurement models as mandated by National Marine Fisheries Service are driven by criteria that lack independent data and are not supported by sound scientific practices. Without this independent scientific information, the fishery and NOAA must rely on fishery dependent data, which are inherently biased against fishermen and do not provide an accurate picture of fish population health. The Dauphin Island Sea Lab proposes a statistically rigorous, large fishery independent survey to collect data critical to decreasing scientific uncertainty associated with the fishery as well as other reef fish off Alabama and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Project Name: Operation Swordphish
Recipient: Alabama Department of Public Safety
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Amount: $3,000,000
Purpose: This will be a state-led Cybercrime Initiative to provide leadership and training to state and local law enforcement on financial cybercrime investigations, enhancing Alabama’s ability to investigate and prosecute financial cybercrimes. In 2009, there were approximately 6,900 known cybercrimes committed in Alabama which were not prosecuted because they did not meet the federal threshold. Limited federal personnel coupled with the fact that the dollar amount in these crimes does not reach the federal threshold leaves a large number of these serious crimes to fall through the cracks. This project will provide technical assistance to government agencies, develop enhancements to existing tools, and create new tools to assist law enforcement in the fight against cybercrime and cyberterrorism. The goal is to implement an initiative that will enable state and local agencies to tackle the problems faced by citizens in cybercrime abatement and security preparedness.
Project Name: Product Lifecycle Management
Recipient: Marshall Space Flight Center (Project Proposed by BG Engineering)
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $5,000,000
Purpose: As NASA focuses on the future of space programs additional modeling, simulation, and Product Lifecycle Management practices are important from both a time and monetary perspective. The goal of this request is to move NASA into integrated and interoperable Product Lifecycle environment as it relates to engineering and manufacturing capabilities. This request will allow the Marshall Space Flight Center Engineering Directorate to streamline their focus on critical analyses of flight vehicle performance issues. These analyses include material selections, weight distribution, and thermal properties as well as manufacturing process validation of standard or specialized systems using analysis and simulation methods. By executing this initiative, NASA will modernize its systems, streamline operations, increase traceability, decrease costs, and increase their aerospace manufacturing expertise.
Project Name: Center for Domestic Preparedness
Recipient: Center for Domestic Preparedness
Location: Anniston, Alabama
Amount: $70,000,000
Purpose: The Center for Domestic Preparedness is the only civilian live agent training facility in the United States. It serves as the crucial link for advanced Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) response training for our nation’s first responders. Funding for the center will allow it to maximize its capacity to train the nation’s first responders. Funds will prepare mobile training teams, enhance training realism by incorporating high resolution computer simulations into training courses, establish and support extension programs, develop and deliver new WMD courses, and increase responder outreach through fielding of comprehensive distributed learning programs, courses and sustainment training. The funding request also recognizes the integration of the Noble Training Center into the CDP.
Project Name: Agricultural Research Service Research and Development Center
Recipient: Auburn University
Location: Auburn, Alabama
Amount: $10,000,000
Purpose: This project constructs a 65,000 square foot modern research facility to house scientists from three disciplinary units—the Agricultural Research Service’s Aquatic Animal Health Research Unit, USDA’s Soil Dynamics Units, and the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures. The new facility will enhance research capacity, capability, and efficiency directed toward problems facing aquaculture and agriculture industries and will develop technologies to allow sustainable use of natural resources while providing for the economic development and well-being of our citizens. The facility provides offices, state-of-the-art analytical laboratories, and wet and dry laboratories bringing together world-class scientists and researchers to address critical needs being placed on our aquatic and agricultural resources from our growing population.
Project Name: Corps of Engineers, Program Management Office Relocation
Recipient: US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Amount: $8,240,000
Purpose: The current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tuscaloosa Area Office, is comprised of general office facilities, warehouse space, and shop facilities. The buildings are aging and inadequate – both overcrowded and not up to current environmental standards. This project will complete the relocation of the administrative and maintenance facilities. This amount would fund phase III, construction and relocation of the Corps' Project Administrative Offices and phase IV, construction of the access road and loading facility at the old Oliver Lock. This would complete the entire relocation effort within the total project authorization.
Project Name: Climate Model Evaluation Project
Recipient: The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Amount: $2,000,000
Purpose: This research will show how effective potential policies will be in impacting the climate and how confident one can be in their achieving the intended outcome. The University of Alabama in Huntsville will examine and evaluate climate model simulations to determine the level of performance these models achieve so that policymakers develop a better understanding of the reliability of these forecasts. Given the tremendous burden that legislation in this realm could place on the U.S. economy, it is imperative that any steps taken are done so only after achieving reasonable certainty that they will produce the benefits necessary to justify the associated costs. Providing this research to policymakers will allow them to be better informed as they debate future climate legislation.
Project Name: Locust Fork Wastewater Collection and Treatment System
Recipient: Blount County Commission, Town of Locust Fork, & Blount County Board of Education
Location: Locust Fork, Alabama
Requested Amount: $1,000,000
Purpose: To provide wastewater collection and treatment for the Town of Locust Fork along with seven school buildings belonging to the Blount County Board of Education currently attended by 1,358 students. This area has been identified by the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission as the fastest growing area in Blount County.
Project Name: Technical Correction for Duck River Reservoir
Recipient: Duck River Reservoir
Location: Cullman, Alabama
Amount: Technical Correction Language Request
Purpose: This technical correction will transfer $6,000,000 to the Duck River Reservoir Project. This project will create a new dam and reservoir to meet the emergency and future water supply needs of the seven water systems that provide water in Cullman County and portions of the 4 surrounding counties. Following preparatory tasks, the construction will be carried out in three phases. Phase I will involve the implementation of the Construction Best Management Practices Plan, clearing, dam foundation preparation and grouting, borrow site assessment, diversion and cofferdam construction. Phase II construction activities includes the construction/final design of the dam and raw water intake structure. Phase III will consist of construction of a 7 mile pipeline from the Reservoir to the Cullman Water Treatment Plant. The dam will serve a regional population of more than 100,000 people and meet the demand for residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural uses. The dam will be 135 feet high, 2000 feet long and will create a 650 acre reservoir capable of producing 32 million gallons of water per day. It will meet the water needs of the community for 75 to 100 years.
Project Name: TFI-Replace Squadron Ops Facility
Recipient: Alabama Air National Guard
Location: Montgomery Regional Airport
Amount: $7,500,000
Purpose: Currently, the squadron operations facility for the Air National Guard is too small to meet mission requirements. The facility is approximately 40 percent undersized and cannot be expanded because of limitations on site. Pilots are constrained by the inadequacy of space and the time allocated to conduct all briefings and debriefings is limited. These constraints do not allow pilots to obtain adequate training, severely impacting safety and the unit’s ability to maintain combat ready pilots. These issues impact training, pilot morale, recruiting, and retention. Funding for this project would replace the squadron operations facility based on Air National Guard and Active Duty requirements.
Project Name: Live Fire Shoot House
Recipient: Alabama Army National Guard
Location: Fort McClellan, AL
Amount: $5,635,000
Purpose: The Live Fire Exercise Shoot House project will provide the Army National Guard with a facility to train and evaluate a unit during a live fire exercise. Currently, the requirement is not being met by the Alabama Army National Guard. Without this funding, the impact on the Alabama National Guard will be to impair readiness, causing mobilizing units to continue training in inadequate and unrealistic environments. Funding for this project will ensure that units will be trained and evaluated on their ability to move tactically (enter and clear a room; enter and clear a building), engage targets, conduct breaches, and practice target discrimination. The shoot house is intended to support blank fire, Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System/Tactical Engagement System, Special Effects Small-Army Marking System, and installation-approved small arms service ammunitions. The range will support small arms familiarization and qualification of more than three thousand personnel assigned to units within a 2 hour travel distance during inactive duty training periods and will save annual training time for collective training.
Project Name: Rural Health Entrepreneurial Development Project
Recipient: University of Alabama
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Amount: $1,500,000
Purpose: This project will develop and deliver a new level of entrepreneurial training through the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network (AERN) in conjunction with community AERN partners and the University of Alabama, College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS) with a focus on rural health innovation. The AERN is a program that provides business technology and business research materials, including books, computer software, Internet resources, and training of local entrepreneurs, to stimulate business growth in rural Alabama. CCHS will leverage AERN’s established rural business network to develop a system of community-based research partners. These partners will seek grant and research opportunities to translate the latest health innovations into these rural areas. By combining health and business opportunities, the project expects to enhance both the health of the communities and the economic benefits of such activities.
Project Name: TFI-Replace Squadron Ops Facility
Recipient: Alabama Air National Guard
Location: Montgomery Regional Airport
Amount: $7,500,000
Purpose: Currently, the squadron operations facility for the Air National Guard is too small to meet mission requirements. The facility is approximately 40 percent undersized and cannot be expanded because of limitations on site. Pilots are constrained by the inadequacy of space and the time allocated to conduct all briefings and debriefings is limited. These constraints do not allow pilots to obtain adequate training, severely impacting safety and the unit’s ability to maintain combat ready pilots. These issues impact training, pilot morale, recruiting, and retention. Funding for this project would replace the squadron operations facility based on Air National Guard and Active Duty requirements.
Project Name: Live Fire Shoot House
Recipient: Alabama Army National Guard
Location: Fort McClellan, AL
Amount: $5,635,000
Purpose: The Live Fire Exercise Shoot House project will provide the Army National Guard with a facility to train and evaluate a unit during a live fire exercise. Currently, the requirement is not being met by the Alabama Army National Guard. Without this funding, the impact on the Alabama National Guard will be to impair readiness, causing mobilizing units to continue training in inadequate and unrealistic environments. Funding for this project will ensure that units will be trained and evaluated on their ability to move tactically (enter and clear a room; enter and clear a building), engage targets, conduct breaches, and practice target discrimination. The shoot house is intended to support blank fire, Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System/Tactical Engagement System, Special Effects Small-Army Marking System, and installation-approved small arms service ammunitions. The range will support small arms familiarization and qualification of more than three thousand personnel assigned to units within a 2 hour travel distance during inactive duty training periods and will save annual training time for collective training.