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Mr. Finney. Thank you, Mr, Chairman. 



The five priority locations that the Department sent forward for 

 facihties in the fiscal year 1994 budget reflect the support for the 

 programs at a number of our major Federal laboratories. One of 

 those laboratories is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, 

 which is one of the largest Federal facilities to support agricultural 

 research for the Department. 



Over the years, there has been a study done with the support of 

 the National Users Advisory Board to look at the long-term needs 

 of modernization and upgrading that facility. At the direction of the 

 congressional committee in 1985, a study was undertaken in terms 

 of modernizing and improving that as it relates to the national 

 goals of environmental research, food safety research, nutrition 

 programs, international markets — those were the criteria that were 

 used in terms of continuing to provide the support for that through 

 the budget process. 



The second project we have made a major commitment to from 

 the Federal laboratory perspective is the Western Regional Re- 

 search Center in Albany, California. This again is one of the major 

 Federal laboratories established in the late 1930's or 1940's and 

 over the last 50 years there has been a need to upgrade, modern- 

 ize, and improve the functional needs of those facilities. So we have 

 that particular facility on the account as well. 



The third project that was in the fiscal year 1994 proposal was 

 the Poultry Disease Laboratory in Athens, Georgia. As you can ap- 

 preciate, over the years there has been a need for improving that 

 facility to address major disease problems in the poultry industry. 

 So we included in that a request for $3.3 million to complete that 

 facility in Athens, Georgia. 



The other facility we had on the list was the major Federal lab- 

 oratory in New Orleans, Louisiana. Again, that was one of the re- 

 gional laboratories constructed in 1940, and again it is a little over 

 50 years old. That is a part of the long-range plan of upgrading, 

 modernizing, and bringing those facilities into compliance with the 

 needs of safety, health, and environmental compliance issues. 



Those were the facilities and the rationale in terms of the needs 

 for the Department for modernization. 



Mr. Stenholm. Can you furnish us a current list of the total 

 amount of facilities in both programs for the record? 



Mr. Finney. Yes, sir, we can get that to you for the record. 



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