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(Washington, D.C.)- Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) is pleased to announce $99 million in federal funding for Maryland and our nation. Money for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, crime fighting, the environment, economic development, education, and homeland security was included in the Omnibus Spending Measure that passed Congress and is heading to the President’s desk. Money for the military and veterans was included in the Defense Appropriations bill that became law November 13, 2007.
$5.7 Million for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Process
$268,000 for BRAC Workforce Development at Towson University
At Towson University, $268,000 will fund comprehensive workforce development and student enrichment programs for projected BRAC and homeland security related jobs.
$121,000 for the Center for Health, Science, and Homeland Security at Anne Arundel Community College
At Anne Arundel Community College, $121,000 will provide continuing education for the health care and homeland security workforce by providing infrastructure improvements, curriculum materials, and other equipment necessary to meet the growing demand. This is especially because of the thousands of families expected to relocate to the area because of BRAC. This project will support expansion of high-demand programs in radiological technology, first responder training, criminal justice and homeland security management at Anne Arundel Community College. This includes expanding training opportunities with the National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Anne Arundel Medical Center, Northrop Grumman, and Thurgood Marshall Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
$121,000 for Northwest Hospital Intermediate Care Unit
At Northwest Hospital, $121,000 will expand and equip the Intermediate Care Unit to better serve the patients of the northwest Baltimore and Randallstown area.
$219,000 for Coppin State University School of Nursing
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing estimates the shortage of U.S. nurses will top 340,000 by the year 2020. In Maryland, this could be exacerbated by the thousands of families moving to Maryland through BRAC. At Coppin State University, $219,000 will allow the School of Nursing to increase faculty and student recruitment and retention, create competitive faculty salaries, purchase equipment for the classroom and clinical laboratory, and identify new computer software and training guides for students.
$250,000 for State Highway Construction at Aberdeen Proving Ground
This project will fund preliminary planning on several road projects in and around Aberdeen Proving Ground in support of the BRAC initiative. Improvements to these existing roads that provide either links or direct access to the installation are essential to the transportation network’s ability to successfully handle an anticipated on-post daily commuting population of more than 25,000 people.
$2 Million for Road Improvements in Harford County
This project will help improve safety, operations, and access at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in anticipation of BRAC-related growth.
$750,000 for Widening I-695
On I-695 in northeast Baltimore County, $750,000 will upgrade the interstate including widening it to eight lanes and improving interchanges and bridges.
$500,000 for Traffic Light Synchronization on MD 175
Near Fort Meade, $500,000 will improve access to the base by funding light signal systemization on MD 175 between MD 170 and MD 713.
$670,000 for Central Maryland Transit Operations
The State of Maryland will use this funding to contribute to the construction of the Central Maryland Transit Operations facility that will provide storage and maintenance for a 120-bus operation, employing 200 people.
$750,000 for the Maryland Transit Agency
This project will help the State of Maryland improve existing Maryland Transit Agency bus facilities and build new bus facilities throughout the State of Maryland.
$40 Million for Military and Veterans
$3 Million for Shock Trauma
At the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, $3 million will fund cutting-edge research for traumatic brain injuries. The research will help physicians improve diagnosis, treatment, and recovery methods for patients. The research will benefit Marylanders as well as servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. Doctors estimate that 60% of troops injured in Iraq suffer from traumatic brain injuries. Military medical personnel will learn first-hand about this critical research when they complete their monthly rotations at Shock Trauma to help prepare them for overseas assignments.
$1 Million for Kennedy Krieger
At Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, $1 million will go to the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury for rehabilitation for American military personnel injured in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world. Since the beginning of the Iraq War, more than 16,000 troops have received severe spinal cord injuries. The money will fund groundbreaking therapies that will help reverse spinal cord injuries, generate new nerve cells, and develop brain activity.
$1.6 Million for Aberdeen Proving Ground
At Aberdeen Proving Ground, $1.5 million will fund state-of-the-art research to improve protective helicopter armor used by U.S. servicemen and women.
$5.5 Million for Navy Radar
At a facility near Thurgood Marshall Baltimore/Washington International Airport, $3 million will fund groundbreaking improvements to Navy radar to make it smaller, lighter, more adaptable, and more accurate than current radar capabilities.
$2 Million for Better Tank Batteries
Using technology developed at a Maryland company, $2 million will fund a strong, longer lasting battery for the Abrams tank used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new battery will reduce battlefield fuel demand by as much as 50%. This will save an estimated $15 to $30 million a day and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
$4.8 Million for Shock Trauma Extremity Research
The money will fund research led by Dr. Andy Pollack of Shock Trauma to address the profound need for focused medical research to help military surgeons find new limb-sparing techniques to save injured extremities, avoid amputations and preserve and restore the function of injured arms and legs. With the dramatic increase of military personnel surviving injury on the battlefield when compared with past conflicts, the Iraq War is producing a new type of patient – a warfighter with multiple and severely injured extremities who is often free of life-threatening injury to the torso.
$3 Million for Shock Trauma Facial Tissue Injury
The money will fund research led by Dr. Steve Bartlett of the University of Maryland Medical System and the U.S. Office of Naval Research for tissue transplantation. The findings will help create a network of transplant/trauma centers that can treat combat personnel with tissue transplants. The project will bring together expertise in transplantation, trauma, and research with one of the nation’s largest transplant centers at the University of Maryland Medical Center, the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, and the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland.
$6 Million for APKWS
The money will fund APKWS, a precision guided missile system being created by the Marines. It is faster, more accurate, and significantly less expensive than the missile system currently in use.
$829,000 for Dundalk Readiness Center
The money will help fund the plans for an extensive renovation of the existing Dundalk Armory/Readiness Center for the Maryland National Guard. The facility has a leaking roof, inadequate electrical systems, insufficient ventilation, deteriorating classrooms, and a sub-standard kitchen. The firing range is currently shut down for lead testing and the locker rooms are located in a separate building from the showers and latrines. The renovation will include new classrooms, a firing range, showers, and a kitchen to improve the morale, retention, and readiness of the personnel stationed at this facility.
$12.2 mil for Automotive Test Evaluation Facility (ATEF)
These funds would allow for Phase 2 of this construction project to begin. The ATEF is an engineered test track that includes two lanes of paved and two lanes of gravel road surfaces. It is 4.5 miles long and has an oval shape that allows stringent safety and grading testing. The findings will allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to conduct a full range of tracked and wheeled vehicle automotive tests, including endurance and reliability, fuel consumption, braking, steering, cooling, and maximum speed testing. The ATEF will enable DoD to fully test its entire current and future vehicle inventory, including armored vehicles.
$3.6 Million for Crime Fighting
$2.8 Million for the Gang Elimination Task Force
As a former prosecutor, Congressman Ruppersberger is concerned with the increase in gang violence in Maryland. Creating this Gang Elimination Task Force is one of the Congressman’s top law enforcement priorities. $2.8 million will create the new Task Force based at the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC) in Baltimore, Maryland. It will serve as a comprehensive information clearinghouse for gang-related law enforcement intelligence along the East Coast. Information will be shared between authorities in Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania. The Task Force will work with local communities to help identify gang members, curb gang recruitment, and assist prosecutors and law enforcement officials to locate high value targets. The funds will pay for additional investigators to be hired to solely focus on gang prosecutions. The Task Force will also have access to national real-time databases that track critical information about gang members across the country.
$399,500 for Baltimore City Public School System Safety Program
In Baltimore City, $399,500 will fund the Public School Safety Program and provide money for necessary equipment. The program aims to reduce violence in the school system by helping create a safer, more productive school environment. The funds will enhance the program, which has been hampered by limited resources in the past.
$446,500 for Improvement to the Forensics Lab in the City of Baltimore
Funds will be used to upgrade aging equipment and to purchase new state-of-the-art equipment that will give the police department crime laboratory new capabilities.
$10 Million for the Environment
$178,600 for Susquehanna Flood Forecast & Warning System
On the Susquehanna River in northern Maryland, $178,600 will fund the Flood Forecast and Warning System that uses sophisticated radar techniques, a network of stream and rain gauges, and automatic data transmission to provide the National Weather Service with information for river forecasts. The system provides accurate and advanced warnings of floods to residents and communities throughout the basin to significantly reduce the loss of life and property damage.
$446,500 for the John Smith Water Trail Interactive Buoys
The money will fund the installation of interactive bouys marking the John Smith National Water Trail on the Chesapeake Bay, also known as the Chesapeake Bay Interactive Buoy System (CBIBS). CBIBS is a system that combines on-the-water sensor buoys and educational materials to interpret portions of the trail with the use of cell phone and Internet technology. In the long term, the system contributes significantly to the restoration of the Bay habitat.
$5.4 Million for Urbanet III
The money will fund the continuation of the NOAA Air Resource Laboratory’s Urbanet Partnership to expand the number of metropolitan areas covered by the Urbanet system which will improve weather forecasting. UrbaNet is a highly dense network of weather tracking stations reporting real-time data for all hazards in high-threat cities across the United States. The purpose of the program is to provide emergency response officials with improved weather information to respond effectively to severe weather events.
$302,000 for the Harry Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology at the University of Maryland
At the Harry Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology at the University of Maryland in Queenstown, $302,000 will continue to fund the Statewide Plan for Agricultural Policy and Resource Management. The money will support research on bio-fuels, forest land conservation, and water supply protection including protecting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The goal of the program is to help farmers diversify and make their operations more efficient so that farming and forestry in Maryland are environmentally sound and economically viable.
$190,000 for Atlantic Coast
The Atlantic Coast of Maryland Shoreline Protection Project, Ocean City, Maryland, is designed to provide coastal flood and erosion protection to Ocean City. As part of the project design, periodic renourishment and maintenance of the beach are required to maintain an adequate level of protection. Every four years, approximately 800,000 cubic yards of sand are required to renourish and maintain the beaches.
$1.7 million for the Chesapeake Bay Gateway Network
$1.7 million will be used to enhance the Chesapeake Bay Gateway Network. The money will pay for museums and facilities around the Chesapeake Bay to create exhibits about the ecosystem and history of the Bay, including the John Smith Trail.
$1.8 Million for the University of Maryland Baltimore County Advanced Study Institute for Environmental Prediction
Funds will be used by the Institute to merge different programs within NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), and the University of Maryland. The goal is to create better atmospheric circulation models, ocean circulation models, land surface models, interactive vegetation models, marine ecosystem models, atmospheric chemistry models, global carbon cycle models, remotely-sensed observations, and sensor development of the Earth.
$34 Million for Economic Development
$329,000 for Mobile Job Training and Placement Vehicle for Ex-Offenders
In Baltimore County, $329,000 will outfit a mobile job training and placement vehicle for ex-offenders. The funding will outfit the unit with computer stations and assorted tools to help ex-offenders find employment.
$19.5 Million for Baltimore Harbor and Channels
In the Baltimore Harbor and Channels, $19.5 million will fund maintenance dredging of the Baltimore Harbor Channels and surrounding areas. In addition to the harbor and channels, the Chesapeake Bay will be dredged from Pooles Island in the north to Virginia’s Cape Henry and York Spit in the south.
$13.6 Million for Poplar Island
On Poplar Island in the Chesapeake Bay, $13.6 million will fund the restoration of 1,140 acres of the island, creating a wildlife refuge for ospreys, egrets, terns, herons, eagles, terrapins, and other wildlife. Poplar Island is a national model for habitat restoration and using dredged material in an environmentally beneficial way.
$282,000 for the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore City
At the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore City, $282,000 will help create a workforce training center to support the revitalization of several West Baltimore neighborhoods. The funding will be used to teach workers specialized skills, construct classroom and other facilities, and upgrade utilities and other infrastructure at the BioPark.
$412,000 for Mid Bay Project
On Barren Island and the remnants of James Island in the Chesapeake Bay, $412,000 will begin restoration of 2,070 acres of wetlands, surrounding habitats, and shoreline using dredged material. This program is part of the Mid Bay Project.
$598,000 for Education
$282,000 for an Integrated Library System for the Blind
$282,000 will be used to develop a library system that blind and visually impaired individuals can use to access materials and information independently in a library or online without help from a librarian. The system will be developed at the National Federation of the Blind headquarters in Baltimore and will help 1.3 million blind and visually impaired citizens access information when complete.
$316,000 for Cherry Hill Learning Zone
The Cherry Hill Learning Zone Initiative will receive $316,000 to continue to fund a partnership between Towson University and the Baltimore City Public Schools. The program aims to improve the economic and educational opportunities for the Cherry Hill community by preparing preschoolers for kindergarten, elementary school students for middle and high school, and high school seniors for higher education or direct entry into the workforce.
$5.1 Million for Homeland Security
$893,000 for Capital Wireless Information Net (CapWIN)
The money will fund CapWIN, the nation’s first wireless interoperable data sharing and communications system specifically designed to connect public safety and transportation first responders across multiple jurisdictions and at all levels of government. Through CapWIN, over 2,500 first responders across Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and the federal government can now access mission-critical data and coordinate their response to regional incidents regardless of their agency affiliation or physical location.
$669,750 for the State of Maryland First Responder Radio Interoperability Project
Funding will provide Maryland with the ability to design and construct a radio interoperability solution that will better protect first responders and citizens. The past “band aid” approach has resulted in many little interoperable bridges, but no long term, resilient strategy. Ultimately, this funding will enable Maryland to be an equal partner with regional jurisdictions, counties, municipalities, and Maryland agencies that have already implemented, or are in the process of implementing, systems to facilitate interoperable communications.
$3.6 Million for the Chesapeake Information Based Aeronautics Consortium
Funding will allow the Chesapeake Information Based Aeronautics Consortium comprised of Morgan State University, Bowie State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to augment the NASA Aviation Safety Program’s research and development efforts, and expand research and development in configuring the Navy’s Joint Technical Data Integration (JTDI) program.
The President must sign the Omnibus Spending Measure before these appropriations requests can become law.
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