$15 million marked for Utah projects

House and Senate negotiators this week included $4 million more for the new Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah — as well as $11 million for other Utah projects — in a final, compromise version of the 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and one of the House-Senate negotiators, said Congress has previously approved $8 million for design and construction of the museum.

Money for other Utah projects in the bill included: $700,000 for removal of arsenic and perchlorate in Magna water; $700,000 to help acquire private land on the north slope of the high Uinta Mountains; and $1.5 million to build campgrounds, trails and staging areas at Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County.

Other funding in the bill included $500,000 for a new wastewater treatment plant in Eagle Mountain, Utah County; $300,000 to upgrade Park City's drinking water faculties; and $1.5 million for a new water treatment plant in Centerfield/Mayfield.

Also included was $1.5 million for Bonneville Shoreline Trail land acquisition; $1.2 million to help protect areas along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon from development and to help protect endangered fish; and $500,00 for the Crossroads of the West Historic District in Ogden.

The House and Senate are expected to vote on final passage of the bill before the beginning of their August recess.