Congressman Denny Rehberg

Over $566,000 in Latest Round of FEMA Grants

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), today announced the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate (EP&R) of the Department of Homeland Security has awarded seven Montana fire departments a total of $566,424 in the twelfth round of the 2003 Assistance to Firefighter Grant program. To date for fiscal year 2003, over $3.19 million has been granted to 57 Montana fire departments.

“This announcement comes at a time when the men and women of our local fire departments are playing such a huge role in assisting state and federal firefighters in tackling one of the toughest fire seasons in recent memory. These grants, which will provide improvements to fire operations and firefighter safety, represent an important investment in the men and women who daily risk their lives for the safety of others,” said Rehberg.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), administers the Assistance for Firefighters Grant Program. The funds are used by the nation’s firefighters to increase the effectiveness of firefighting operations, fire fighter health and safety programs, new fire apparatus, emergency medical service programs, and fire prevention and safety programs. The $750 million in the firefighters grants program for fiscal year 2003 marks a significant increase from the $360 million in grants announced last year.

Approved for funding requests in this round were fire departments in Broadwater County, ($22,802), Denton Rural ($30,613), Little Basin Creek - near Butte ($95,823), Red Lodge ($144,000), Turner ($51,210), Willow Creek Rural ($135,000), and Wolf Creek ($86,976).

Last year, Rehberg arranged special workshops in 10 Montana cities to assist local fire departments in applying for the fire grants. “I want to see our fire departments, particularly those in the smaller rural areas who struggle with funding, continue to avail themselves of this opportunity to enhance their equipment and personnel.”

BILLINGS, MT - Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), will deliver remarks and take part in the ground breaking for a portion of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System, a regional public water project that will provide clean water for up to 30,000 residents of northeastern Montana.

“This is truly a congressional success story for the people of northeastern Montana,” said Rehberg. “There is a great need for clean, safe water in the areas this project will serve, and a great many of us worked hard, and worked together, to get the authorization and secure the federal dollars for this project. This is the largest public water project in eastern Montana since the creation of Fort Peck dam and it’ll certainly improve the quality of life for the people of the region,” Rehberg said.

Ground water in northeastern Montana often does not meet safe drinking water guidelines and many rural residents cannot use their existing water source without extensive treatment. The Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System is two water systems supplied by common facilities. The on-reservation system is the Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water System, and the off-reservation portion is the Dry Prairie Rural Water Authority. The first Dry Prairie segment of construction is to build the main transmission line from Culbertson to Medicine Lake. The total project is expected to take up to ten years to complete and cost approximately $220 million.

“We especially appreciate the work of Congressman Rehberg. He played a key role in the House of Representatives, and then helped move the project along when it was seemingly held up by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),” said Clint Jacobs, Dry Prairie Rural Water Authority’s project coordinator.

This past March, a phone call from Rehberg to OMB Director Mitch Daniels resulted in the approval to the project’s final engineering report, effectively clearing the way for construction to begin. In February, Rehberg helped secure $7.5 million in funding for the project, which was finalized in the passage of the Omnibus Spending Bill.

Rehberg will take part in the Dry Prairie Rural Water Authority groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, August 28, at 12:00 noon at the Culbertson Water Treatment Plant, one mile southeast of Culbertson on Highway 16.

BOZEMAN, MT – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg (R-Montana) today announced a $1.35 million federal grant has been awarded to Gallatin Field. Rehberg is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation.

“These funds represent a key part of our comprehensive effort, both in Congress and with the FAA, to secure federal airport improvement funding for Montana,” Rehberg said. “Gallatin Field is vital to the area’s economy, critical both to the county and to the state.”

The grant announced today, under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP), will fund a project that includes a new gate and upgraded security enhancements. The project will allow the airport to construct a new second-level gate and passenger boarding bridge, along with additional seating and hold space in the security area of the terminal building. In addition, the grant will fund a new exit for deplaning passengers, a computerized access system for the secure side of the terminal, and additional closed circuit TV coverage.

“We appreciate Denny’s efforts in this grant, and his involvement in keeping the funding levels up,” Airport Director Ted Mathis said. “With our anticipated growth in air service, this is a crucial time for making these terminal improvements and enhancing the security at Gallatin Field.

“As we move into the fall, there is more work to be done behind the scenes in Washington to make sure Gallatin Field gets more funding and the help it requires from the federal government for the next project,” Rehberg said.

Mathis agreed, adding, “Right now, the most pressing need we have is for better radar coverage to adequately monitor increased traffic.”

“Gallatin has a plan. They anticipate more business and they intend to be ready for it,” Rehberg said. ” That makes our job easier.”

MISSOULA, MT - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today announced the federal government has agreed to assist local governments in five new counties threatened by wildfires in Montana. Under the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) will provide emergency assistance to aid local officials battling wildfires in Missoula, Mineral, Ravalli, Sanders, and Sweet Grass Counties.

“These latest emergency declarations are crucial to the local communities fighting to contain the new wildfires that have begun to threaten homes and lives over the past several days,” Rehberg said. “The severity of the fires that have engulfed Montana over the past month amounts to nothing less than a major disaster, and should be treated as such.”

Emergency federal assistance has been approved for eight wildfires concentrated in an area of Missoula County bordering Mineral and northern Ravalli Counties. In addition, emergency assistance will be available to defray local costs of fighting the Cherry Creek Fire, burning in Sanders County since August 6, and the Hobble Fire in Sweet Grass County, which has threatened dozens of homes in the town of Greycliff.

“The magnitude of wildfires over a small geographic area spilling over in Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli counties allows FEMA to place these emergencies under a special designation, providing coverage for any new wildfire starts in this area,” Rehberg added.

The Fire Management Assistance Grant Program allows local governments to recover seventy-five percent of eligible firefighting costs. Eligible expenditures include items such as equipment and supplies, emergency evacuations and sheltering, mobilization and demobilization costs, support for firefighter health and safety, and field camps and meals.

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today announced guarantees that will continue funding Montana’s Essential Air Service (EAS).

“In the face of an overall scaling back of Essential Air Service across the lower 48 states, we were able secure continued funding with no local match requirement for Montana’s eight EAS localities,” Rehberg, a member of the Committee said. “Our state is disadvantaged when compared to other, more populous states. In short, Montana deserves these air service guarantees.”

Congress authorized the EAS program to guarantee a minimum level of air carrier service to small communities. The Department of Transportation currently subsidizes air service to approximately 38 rural communities in the continental U.S. This year, the Bush Administration proposed that local communities provide matching funds for individual service.

Rehberg, selected by House Speaker Dennis Hastert to serve as one the House Conferees on the panel that reconciles Senate and House versions of EAS reauthorizations, worked to exempt Montana from the matching funds provision.

“As a result, Montana’s eight EAS communities [Glasgow, Glendive, Havre, Lewistown, Miles City, Sidney, Wolf Point and, on a seasonal basis, West Yellowstone] will continue to receive the full funding they deserve without the burden of having to pony up local funds,” Rehberg said.

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana Congressman, Denny Rehberg (R), called on House colleagues to follow-up on their commitment to forest restoration by supporting Rehberg’s National Drought Preparedness Act.

“Our Healthy Forests Initiative makes the commitment to restoring our national forests to a vibrant, natural condition. It makes sense to me to examine what part drought plays in forest health,” Rehberg said, in making the case for H.R. 2871, the National Drought Preparedness Act of 2003, which Rehberg introduced July 24, 2003.

Montana Senators Max Baucus and Conrad Burns have introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

The bi-partisan measure would establish the National Drought Council, to be made up of 14 members from various federal, state, tribal, local, and civic representatives. The council would foster a pro-active versus a reactive approach. Specifically, it would develop a comprehensive National Drought Policy Action Plan to improve integration and delivery of federal drought programs, improve drought forecasting and monitoring capabilities, develop new tools for drought planning, and facilitate local planning efforts.

“We’re still early in the fire season, and already over 100,000 acres have burned in Montana because the forests are so dry. That same drought has been burning into the livelihoods of our farmers and ranchers for 6 years now, and it’s time we own up to the fact that we haven’t done enough to prepare for, and respond to this natural disaster,” said Rehberg, who fought for a similar measure in the 107th Congress, which was held up in committee.