Washington, D.C. – The final budget bill that Congress approved on Saturday includes funding for several projects that are important to communities in Colorado’s Second Congressional District, said Congressman Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs). These projects include open space land acquisitions, construction and water projects, transportation programs, federal labs in Boulder, and an electronic medical records system at Avista Hospital in Louisville.
“I’m very pleased that we were able to secure federal funds for many important projects in Colorado. It was a tight budget year, but we were able to successfully make the case to the Appropriations Committee that these projects are critical to our way of life and our economy in Colorado,” said Udall.
Included in the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Act are the following projects:
· $2 million toward the purchase of the Beaver Brook Watershed near Clear Creek County by the U.S. Forest Service for open space
· $1.025 million for the purchase of the Miller Property near Grand Lake by the U.S. Forest Service for open space
· $250,000 for Eldorado Springs to improve waste water treatment
· $250,000 for Idaho Springs for water distribution facility improvement
· $650,000 for an electronic medical record (EMR) system at Avista Hospital in Louisville
· $1.25 million for I-70 incident management program
· $7 million for NIST central utility plant upgrades in Boulder
· $6.9 million for the Space Environment Center at NOAA in Boulder
· $3.2 million for the Wind Profiler Network at NOAA in Boulder
· $1.264 billion for Rocky Flats cleanup to support closure by 2006
· $75,000 for the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park
The bill did not include language to move two of the Boulder NOAA labs to Norman, OK.