Washington, D.C. – July 17, 2009 – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14) announced that he had secured $80 million in federal funding in the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Act (H.R. 3183) for local Army Corps of Engineers projects.  The bill also included $1.5 million for Pittsburgh Green Innovators, a local project to commercialize new environmental technology and create local “green” jobs.  The spending bill was approved by the House of Representatives today by a vote of 320 to 97.

“This bill will provide much-needed funding for the Pittsburgh Corps of Engineers to continue the important work they do to keep commercial barges and recreational boaters moving along our region’s rivers,” Congressman Mike Doyle said today after passage of the bill.  “It will also allow the Corps to continue working to help local governments improve local water quality and end the discharge of raw sewage into our rivers and streams.  The bill also provides funding for a study of our region’s future waterway needs.  Finally, this bill will help us make southwestern Pennsylvania a national leader in green jobs and technology.  I’m pleased that I was able to make sure this bill will so directly benefit our region.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for designing, building, operating, and maintaining navigation and flood control projects along our nation’s waterways.  Corps locks and dams along the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monogahela Rivers in this region make it possible to move 41 million tons of cargo and 30,000 recreational vessels up and down those waterways each year.  The Corps’ locks and dams support tens of thousands of jobs in Southwestern Pennsylvania. 

Specifically, the bill included:

• $47 million for operations and maintenance of locks and dams along the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers
• $25 million for urgently needed repairs to the Emsworth Locks and Dams on the Ohio River
• $6.21 million for modernization of Locks and Dams 2, 3, and 4 along the Monongahela River
• $1.25 million for the Upper Ohio River Navigation System Study to address future needs
• $2 million for the Three Rivers Wet Weather Demonstration Project to eliminate sewer overflows
• $1.5 million for the Pittsburgh Green Innovators project

The Pittsburgh Green Innovators project is a locally driven initiative to establish a business incubator for companies working to commercialize sustainable technologies, develop a workforce training curriculum for local careers in sustainable industries, and promote advanced technology development in our region.  This funding will help redevelop the closed Connelly School in Pittsburgh into a center for these initiatives. 

“I have been working with local community leaders for some time to get the Pittsburgh Green Innovators project up and running,” Congressman Doyle said.  “Pittsburgh Green Innovators will help our region become a national leader in green technology.  That’s why I am pleased that I was able to secure this essential seed money for it.”

Overall, the bill included $5.5 billion in funding for Army Corps of Engineers water projects and $1.1 billion for water projects managed by the Department of the Interior.  The bill also included $26.9 billion for the Department of Energy – primarily for research on new renewable energy supplies and more energy-efficient technology, modernizing the nation’s electric transmission grid, and cleaning up old nuclear waste sites.

“The funding for research on new energy sources and more energy-efficient technology is an important investment in US energy independence and a cleaner, more sustainable environment,” Congressman Doyle observed.  “I have been working for years to expand federal investments in alternative, renewable, and clean energy technology.  I believe that energy technology will be the next major driver of the world economy, and I want the United States – and southwestern Pennsylvania in particular – to be a world leader in this field so that our region will benefit from the jobs and investment that it will create.  This bill moves us in that direction.”

This legislation must now be considered by the Senate.

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