Congressman Salazar's Funding Priorities for Agriculture

As a new member of the Appropriations Committee, I have new oversight responsibilities for the spending of federal dollars, as well as an increased role in the prioritization of federal spending.

For too long, the process of Congressional funding requests lacked transparency and accountability, leading some members of Congress to abuse it and the public trust. Since assuming the majority in 2007, Congressional Democrats have significantly reformed the process, including ensuring that every American can easily determine which member of Congress has submitted a requests.

Below you will find a list of my funding requests in the Agriculture Appropriations bill.

Montrose Community Sustainable Nutrient Project
$400,000
City of Montrose
433 1st Street
Montrose, CO 81401
Explanation: The project will lower the amount of waste entering the local landfill. The ability to use the waste will extend the useful life of the landfill and delay the need to establish a new landfill. This facility may also serve as a resource to other regional publicly owned treatment works (POTW) to compost their bio-solids, thereby reducing costs to their ratepayers.

Rio Culebra Growers Educational Corporation
$1,045,850
Rio Culebra Growers Educational Corporation
123 Gaspar St
San Luis, CO 81152
Explanation: The facility will function as the physical location and site for planning, education, demonstration, and production activities for the purpose of revitalizing the agricultural production of small family farms and ranches through cooperation, innovation, diversification, and expansion.

Conejos County Biodiesel Production Plant
$800,000
Conejos County Government
6683 County Rd 13
Conejos, CO 81129
Explanation: The biodiesel plant will benefit Conejos County in multiple ways: creating new jobs, developing a new market for local agricultural goods, providing a lower cost fuel alternative for the County, and providing much relief to County government which has struggled in the past to deal with fluctuating fuel costs.

Durango Streamed Watershed Demonstration Projects
$7,000,000
City of Durango
949 E. 2nd Avenue
Durango, CO 81301
Explanation: Durango's existing recycle center is 14 years old and has become insufficient to handle the amount and type of materials the community recycles. Plans for a new regional materials recycling facility include developing a single- or dual-stream processing facility, whereby recyclables are co-mingled at the curb. By making it convenient for the customer, this method also pulls the greatest amount of materials out of the waste stream, thereby protecting natural resources. The facility would include additional storage and processing space, energy-efficient solutions, paint and scrap metal collection, as well as methods to increase the types of materials accepted for recycling.

Norwood Water Treatment and Distribution System
$4,000,000
City of Norwood
1670 Naturita St.
Norwood, CO 81423
Explanation: Norwood and the surrounding unincorporated areas have a population of about 1,200 served by the Norwood Water Commission. The project will address ongoing problems with water quality, including Boil Water Orders, disinfectant residuals, and an E.Coli incident. The Commission has tried to meet the Safe Drinking Water Act through filtration and disinfection but has encountered increased difficulty financially as Federal regulations continue to lower acceptable contamination levels. The project will address the need for a robust water treatment plant to support economic growth and development.

Fountain Creek Watershed Project
$3,000,000
Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District
801 Swink Ave
Rocky Ford, CO
Explanation: LAVWCD & CSU have partnered to create Fountain Creek Corridor Master Plan. The key goals for this project is to improve watershed health by reducing erosion, sedimentation and flooding; improving water quality; create stable riparian wetland ecosystems to attract and support native wildlife and vegetation; Sustain projective agricultural lands along the corridor; Create demonstration projects along the corridor

Alamosa Water Line Upgrade Project
$1,889,974
City of Alamosa
425 4th Street
Alamosa, CO 81101
Explanation: Due to recent outbreaks of Salmonella in the City's water system, the City needs to replace its aging cast iron lines. With the new arsenic treatment plant, the City is now chlorinating. While this will keep the city from re-experiencing an outbreak of water borne illness like it faced in 2008, it is causing problems with our iron lines. The chlorine levels are causing a more rapid deterioration of our lines and some discoloration due to high iron has been seen in the system.

Rio Grande Reservoir Multi-Use Rehabilitation Project
$5,000,000
San Luis Valley Irrigation District
296 Miles St
Center, CO 81125
Explanation: To address the continuing outlet work and seepage concerns, and the resulting operational constraints, the District hopes to limit seepage through the installation of a grout wall and non-permeable liner along the dam's left abutment, construction of a new pressurized outlet works, and rehabilitation of the dam spillway. The rehabilitated Reservoir will allow use for multiple purposes and the District will forgo a portion of its storage to provide space for Rio Grande Compact compliance, use by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, re-regulation of irrigation supplies, augmentation supply to irrigation wells in the Closed Basin, and to meet downstream municipal and commercial development.

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