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Follow us on TwitterSpending bill provides up to $1.5 million for Lynchburg CSO work
Among the earmarks in the federal spending bill President Barack Obama signed Wednesday were about $1.5 million for upgrades to Lynchburg’s sewer system, said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 appropriates $787,000 for upgrades to Lynchburg’s combined sewer overflow system to comply with the federal Clean Water Act, Webb’s office said in a news release.
In addition, Lynchburg stands to benefit from a $766,000 allocation for the James River Deepwater Turning Basin, Webb’s news release said.
Although the turning basin is in Richmond, the allocation includes funds to study and design the replacement of 39,000 feet of the James River CSO Interceptor and other CSO interceptors and outfalls in Lynchburg, Webb’s office said.
Richmond, like Lynchburg, is under a federal mandate to halt the release of raw sewage into the James River when storms cause sewer lines to overflow.
Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg, said the funds represented “more than a year of coordination with Webb’s office.
City Manager Kimball Payne and other city officials “have worked consistently to promote a clear understanding of why CSO is vital for public health and public safety for all Virginians,” Valentine said.
In 2007, Lynchburg received $580,000 in federal funding for the CSO project, and appropriation for Lynchburg in December of 2007. The city also received $1.5 million in state funds for CSO in Virginia’s 2008 budget, Valentine said.
Reader Reactions
It’s called replacing an open system with a closed system. REPLACING. This is a known problem that has been studied to death for 20 years without action.
All these glorious studies by outside Engineering firms (when the city has a top notch engineering dept) do one thing. Cost money. The city engineers know where the lines are.
When the dirt diggers show up there is ALWAYS major changes that occur. Do a section at a time.
But the again.. let’s spend $700,000 to study the situation to see if it’s feasible to do some work at this time.
Jouxster: what would you have the city do…implement, fix, repair, manufacture without studying and designing the project first? Not sure what you’re problem with this is unless it is just the words used.
Not directed toward jouxster…The appropriation was an earmark in the stimulus package that will fund Lynchburg in making mandated and, coincidentally, needed and appropriate upgrades to our CSO system. I find this as great for our locality, something we’d have to find other money to do. On a national scale, there is the belief earmarks are bad?
So, what’s the answer, bad or good or maybe neither?
This is great use of busswords: Study, Design, CoOrdinate, blah blah blah.
Here’s words that would impress: manufacture, impliment, fixed, and repaired. It’s as worthless as the millions spent in Charlottesville for a bypass. Or the money spent on “discovering the parking problems in Downtown Lynchburg.“ There is so many hands in the til doing studies there is no money to actually do the work needed in the first place.
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