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Penobscot Tribe Benefits from Recovery Act - $216K to Improve Water Services

Release Date: 07/08/2009
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – July 8, 2009) – The Penobscot Tribe will have improved access to vital water services through $216,700 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Indian Health Service (IHS) today announced $90 million nationwide in ‘shovel ready’ infrastructure projects designed to better protect human and environmental health in Indian Country.

“We are very proud that the Recovery Act is providing funds for the Penobscot Tribe to improve drinking water services,” said Ira Leighton, acting regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "This critical work will provide real dividends for the communities, by protecting peoples' health, bolstering our economy and creating jobs."

The $216,700 in Recovery Act funds will pay for a project to improve drinking water services by funding metering leak detection and hydrant replacement benefitting 229 households.

Continuing a tradition spanning 20 years, EPA and IHS’s combined effort to improve water services in Indian Country contributed to their identification of 95 wastewater and 64 drinking water priority projects to be completed by IHS’s Sanitation Facilities Construction Program through EPA Recovery Act funds. The projects exceed the Recovery Act requirement that 20 percent of the funds be used for green infrastructure, water and energy efficiency improvements and other environmentally innovative projects.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the recovery act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at recovery.gov.

More information:

Recovery efforts and the environment in New England (www.epa.gov/region1/eparecovery)

EPA information on Tribes and the environment in New England (www.epa.gov/region1/govt/tribes/index.html)

National EPA Recovery Act water efforts (www.epa.gov/water/eparecovery/)

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