Washington -- In a personal effort to bring more transparency and accountability to the earmark process, U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin (R-WY) today released a list of her appropriations project requests for Fiscal Year 2008, which includes local education, law enforcement, defense, transportation, health care and cultural projects.

“Earmark” is the moniker describing money Congress sets aside for a project at the specific request of a Member of Congress. Earmarks are typically included in the 13 appropriations bills Congress must pass annually to fund the government. As a part of this funding process, the House Appropriations Committee asks all Members of the House to submit, for consideration by the Committee, the requests they feel may be important for their district, state, and the United States.

These requests provide guidance to the House Appropriations Committee as they decide how to allocate the dollars of a previously agreed-upon budget. The appropriations process is a multi-step approach, and only a small fraction of the projects requested will ever be funded. Thus, the list of projects Cubin submitted for consideration are not guaranteed to be funded.

House Republicans, believing that America’s hard-working taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent, continue to lead the fight to restore transparency and accountability to the earmark process in Congress. Publicly disclosing earmark requests is a small part of that effort.

Every year, Representative Cubin serves as an advocate for requests from local governments, agencies, schools, non-profits, and other entities that she believes have an opportunity to win federal funding support. The following are the requests, listed in ascending fiscal order, for consideration Cubin has submitted to the Appropriations Committee for FY 2008:

    * $150,000 for the A Child Is Missing (ACIM) project in the State of Wyoming
    * $156,000 for the Wyoming Accelerated Soil Survey Project in Uinta County, Wyoming

    * $250,000 to implement and report on an Ecological Assessment Plan within the Thunder Basin, Wyoming

    * $250,000 for the Campbell County Senior Center

    * $300,000 in additional funding for the purpose of NRCS Accelerated Soil Survey Mapping in the State of Wyoming

    * $336,000 for increased avalanche control on the Sylvan Pass within Yellowstone National Park

    * $360,000 authorization for the Automated Helicopter Load Acquisition System
    * $367,000 for the Vision Therapy Project within the Natrona County School District (NCSD)

    * $400,000 for the Casper College Renewable Energy Program

    * $450,000 for a special research and development grant directed to the University of Wyoming, Department of Agriculture

    * $500,000 for Ark Regional Services Creative Arts Center in Laramie, WY

    * $500,000 for Electronic Information Technology at Powell Valley Health Care (PVHC) in Powell, WY

    * $500,000 for WyoLink Upgrades in Gillette, WY
    * $500,000 for the Rural Criminal Justice Training Center at Central Wyoming College (CWC) in Riverton, WY

    * $500,000 for the Public Safety Officer Training Center in Casper, WY

    * $570,000 authorization for Robotic Manipulators for Explosive Ordnance Disposal

    * $575,000 for the Child Identification and Location Database (CHILD) Project for all 23 counties in Wyoming

    * $650,000 for Network Infrastructure Improvement for the city buildings of Casper, Wyoming

    * $650,000 for the Wind River Community Health Center
    * $700,000 for the Wastewater / Lagoon Project in Hudson, Wyoming

    * $1 million for the Wyoming Technical Training Center, Gillette Campus of the Northern Wyoming Community College

    * $1.15 million for Virtual Medical Training for Nurses at Central Wyoming College (CWC) in Riverton, WY

    * $1.52 million for the Dubois Community Project

    * $2 million for the Casper Civic Auditorium

    * $3 million for the Regional Training Institute (RTI) project (Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center in Guernsey, WY)

    * $3.4 million in the Space Technology Line 11 for Multicontinuum Technology for Space Structures

    * $3.6 million for the acquisition of half the remaining acreage on the 35-acre Snake River Ranch property

    * $4 million in the Chemical and Biological Defense Program - Advanced Development Line 34 for the Long Range Stand Off System for Detection of Biological Materials

    * $4 million for the extension of Sinclair Street in Gillette, Wyoming

    * $5 million for the utilization of existing technologies for the in-situ monitoring of CO2 content in coal

    * $5 million for Interstate 25, Glenrock to Casper Hat Six, reconstruction
    * $5 million for Interstate 80, Wamsutter West Section, reconstruction

    * $5 million for 17-mile road, Fremont County, reconstruction

    * $5 million for the Enhanced Landmine and IED Detection System in Landmine Warfare and Barrier Advanced Technology Line 48

    * $5.9 million for the Consolidated Fire Station project (F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, WY)

    * $6.6 million for the ADAL Missile Service Complex (F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, WY)

    * $7.6 million for the Squad Ops/Operations Facility (Cheyenne Municipal Airport in Cheyenne, WY)
    * $10 million for the Storm Water Drainage project (F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, WY)

    * $10 million for the Office of Fossil Energy’s Cooperative Research and Development Program under the Department of Energy

    * $14.8 million for the existing facilities at the Casper office (Naval Petroleum Reserve # 3) of the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC)

    * $15 million to the Minuteman III Modifications Line 9 for the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Remote Visual Assessment program