Old Faithful Geyser
Webcam view of Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday, April 22, 2009.
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Yellowstone Park to get nearly $15 Million in Recovery Act funds
by Yellowstone National Park
April 22, 2009
Yellowstone National Park will receive $14,735,000 in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
This is part of a $750 million investment in nearly 800 projects throughout the National Park Service, which was announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at an event held earlier today in Washington, DC.
The money will be used to fund projects designed to address critical park needs, improve experiences for park visitors, and implement sustainable green technologies, while generating economic activity in the region.
The largest of the Yellowstone projects is construction of a new wastewater treatment plant at Madison Junction. Planning and environmental compliance for the $9 million project was completed in early 2006. It will replace an aging plant built 50 years ago which struggles to handle summer wastewater flows and was never designed to operate during winter months.
Decreasing the park’s impact on the environment by reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions is the goal of an innovative project which takes a new "spin" at an old idea.
Nearly a century ago when the U.S. Army was still running Yellowstone, a Pelton water wheel was installed to generate electricity for Mammoth Hot Springs. While that original unit was taken out of service long ago, the park plans to use $1.65 million to install a new micro hydro system to harness power from drinking water already stored for use. Using this clean power source will reduce the annual greenhouse gas emissions by 695 tons and save the park approximately $80,000 in electric bills.
Yellowstone will start work on many of the park’s approved Recovery Act projects in just a matter of weeks. The list of all National Park Service projects funded by the Recovery Act is online at www.doi.gov/recovery/nps.
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