honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 4, 2005

Bill provides $34M for Hawai'i projects

By Dennis Camire
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Hawai'i will receive $34 million for agriculture, flood control in Manoa Valley and other projects in a spending measure sent to President Bush yesterday.

About $1.15 million would be used for flood prevention in Manoa Valley, and $3 million would go to offset the replacement cost of destruction caused at the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources by the 2004 flood.

"When combined with other funding measures and grants, the federal government is poised to allocate as much as $27.9 million in storm relief for the university and Manoa Valley," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

About $3.6 million is included to continue building the U.S. Pacific Basin Agriculture Resource Center's laboratory at UH-Hilo.

The $100 billion spending measure, which the Senate approved 81-18, provides money this year for agriculture, rural development and Food and Drug Administration programs.

Other Hawai'i projects include:

  • $8 million to prevent erosion, floodwater and sediment damage in the Upcountry Maui Watershed, the Lahaina Watershed, the Lower Hamakua Ditch Watershed, the Manoa Watershed and the Wailuku-Alenaio Watershed.

  • $4.77 million to continue tropical and subtropical agriculture research.

  • $2.8 million to pay for agriculture inspections at Neighbor Island airports now paid for by the state.

  • $2.4 million for research at the U.S. Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center.

  • $1.6 million for the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions grant program that will focus on development of agriculture products.

  • $1.56 million for tropical agriculture research at the Oceanic Institute.

  • $1.35 million for the operation of a state wildlife services office to help control pests and diseases.

  • $936,000 for sugar-cane research at the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center.

  • $900,000 for the statewide agricultural development and resource conservation program.

  • $586,000 to monitor and control the papaya ringspot virus.

    The remainder would go for a variety of programs ranging from the promotion of agriculture development in the American Pacific to recruiting women and minorities for technology-related careers.