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deteriorating steam tunnels, a one-story laboratory building was severely affected, 

 making it necessary to close the building for tu'o months for repairs. In another in- 

 stance, a corroded water pipe broke in a greenhouse, disabling a controlled environ- 

 ment chamber. The laboratory is now seeking funds to replace the growth chamber, 

 and meanwhile the research on plant adaptation to climate change is delayed. Another 

 building, which houses several laboratories, is now being evaluated by occupational 

 health specialists. We may be limited in the types of research we will be able to carry 

 out in that building because of its poor air exchange system. 



We have a particular concern at BARC regarding our animal housing. Many of our 

 facilities for housing research animals, although state-of-the-art in the 1930's, are no 

 longer ideal for the type of research we now must pursue. Too many current facilities 

 do not give us the flexibility to change research direction without costly physical facil- 

 ity changes. Necessary upgrades to meet animal care standards are also very costly. 

 These conditions often prevent us from taking advantage of more efficient technolo- 

 gies and automation that would reduce labor costs. BARC is a world leader in trans- 

 genic animal research and is making important advances in the control of animal 

 parasitic diseases, animal reproduction and nutrition. However, these programs are 

 dependent upon animal care facilities that are conducive to animal well-being and 

 health. To attain that level of animal care, considerable modernization and repair and 

 maintenance of our 50-year old buildings is required. To accomplish this, some re- 

 search groups must allocate 25 per cent of each scientist's discretionary funds to repair 

 and upgrading. 



One laboratorv', the Nonruminant Animal Nutrition Laboratory, has spent, over 

 the last 10 years, $25,000 or more annually to modernize laboratory and animal facili- 

 ties. This has necessitated postponement of the purchase of some critical, state-of-the- 

 art equipment. In some cases, such as our program on poultry reproductive biology, 

 the cost to update existing facilities to allow certain new research approaches is pro- 

 hibitive. A substantial part of the Gene Evaluation and Mapping Laboratory's research 

 deals with utilization of cow embryos grown in culture. Over the past four years, thou- 

 sands of cow embr>'os have been lost because of electrical outages. Each power outage 

 lasting over an hour (four or five per year) destroys two weeks of work. This repre- 

 sents a loss of over 100 staff hours each time we lose facility power. The interim solu- 

 tion has been to purchase numerous back-up generators. Upgrading these electrical 

 systems is among our highest priorities for modernization. 



One of the unique capabilities we have at BARC is an abattoir which allows us to 

 carry out a variety of projects on reducing the fat content of meat, -on meat quality and 

 on meat safety. However, the deterioration of this building is raising concern about 

 whether we will risk the loss of our Federal license by operating the facility without 

 major upgrades. Finally, repeated failures in the 30-year old liVAC system in the main 

 building of the U.S. National Arboretum, a component of the Belts\'ille Area, has 

 jeopardized not only its valuable herbarium, but also seriously interrupted the research 

 program. The HVAC system is so old it is difficult to repair. I worry that we will be 

 forced to remove it before we have replacement funds identified. 



I hope these few examples have clearly illustrated our serious facility problems. 

 I'm sure you observed a common theme throughout these examples, our inadequate 

 electrical distribution systems. The number of failures in this system is very high, and 

 because only a few of^our laboratories, greenhouses, and barns are equipped with 

 back-up generators, research losses are all too frequent. As I mentioned, the utilities 

 systems at BARC have been among our top priorities for modernization. The support 

 of both the Department and the Congress has allowed us to make significant progress 

 in upgrading our electrical, steam, and water treatment facilities. With continued 

 modernization support, we expect in a few years to have in place an infrastructure 

 plant adequate to properly moderni2e the rest of our research facilities. 



Before closing, I would like to comment on our long-term modernization plans at 

 BARC. Studies that we have carried out strongly recommend that the optimal mod- 

 ernization for BARC should include a mix of rehabilitated existing buildings and sonie 

 new replacement buildings. Those buildings we would retain are those with solid 



