V.I. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Monique Clendinen Watson (202) 226-7973 |
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| (Washington, DC, April 20, 2007) — Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen announced today that she was successful in securing an authorization of $25 million to pay for the upgrade and construction of the territory’s wastewater treatment plants. The funding was contained in an amendment to HR 1495, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007, which passed the House late yesterday. The 2007 WRDA bill authorizes more than $15 billion in Army Corps of Engineers water resources projects. “I want to thank Chairman Jim Oberstar of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for including my request for this funding in his ‘manager’s amendment’ to the WRDA bill. Chairman Oberstar, has once again demonstrated his support for the territory with his inclusion of this important funding,” Christensen said. “I also want to thank Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Chairwoman and my CBC colleague, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas for her strong support of my request as well.” The wastewater infrastructure projects are among the highest priority for the Government of the Virgin Islands (GVI), Christensen said in her letter to the House Transportation committee requesting the funding. “Nothing less than the continued economic development of the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as the health and well-being of its residents are at stake,” she wrote. These projects are in part mandated by a judicial stipulation modifying the Amended Consent Decree in an action brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce requirements of the Clean Water Act within the U.S. Virgin Islands. The stipulation requires that the GVI arrange for the design, construction, and operation of two wastewater treatment facilities that would be upgrades of, or replacements for, the existing St. Croix Anguilla wastewater treatment plant (the "Anguilla WWTP") and the St. Thomas Charlotte Amalie wastewater treatment plant (the "Airport WWTP") that would meet Clean Water Act requirements, as well as interim discharge limitations in the Amended Consent Decree and final Territorial Permit Discharge Elimination System ("TPDES") permit requirements. “Inclusion of this funding in the bill will enable the territory to make timely progress towards addressing these major problems,” Christensen said. The measure now goes to the Senate for final consideration. |
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