For Immediate Release

August 29, 2000

$2.56 MIL. FEDERAL GRANT WILL ASSURE
REPLACEMENT OF HOQUIAM WATER LINE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Grays Harbor County will receive a grant of $2.56 million from the Economic Development Administration [EDA] to upgrade and expand the water supply system for the industrial area of the City of Hoquiam, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks announced today in Grays Harbor.

        Speaking to a meeting of the Aberdeen Kiwanis Club, the congressman said he received official word today that the federal agency has approved the grant, which will add to local and federal funding already available and assure the replacement of 26,000 linear feet of the 70-year old pipeline. He said the County had submitted "an excellent proposal" for the grant, and that he and Senators Patty Murray and Slade Gorton had urged EDA officials to approve the grant quickly.

        "I appreciate the response from EDA, which recognized that the water line rehabilitation is precisely the type of economic development initiative that the agency seeks out: expenditures that are beyond the reasonable means of the local community and yet are critically necessary for retaining good jobs or bringing new employment to the area," Rep. Dicks said.

        "It’s important for the tax base, important for the overall economic health of the community and, of course, important for keeping the good jobs for the workers whose efforts have made Grays Harbor Paper a success since the mill re-opened in 1993. This grant assures that those jobs will continue for years to come," he added.

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