Congresswoman Lee to Tour ARS Western Regional Research Center

For immediate Release
 

Contact: Ricci Graham
(510) 763-0370

Congresswoman Lee will be joined by Acting Secretary of the USDA Ann Bartuska

Oakland – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-09) will tour the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Western Regional Research Center (WRRC) located at 800 Buchanan Street, Albany at 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 2, 2010.

Congresswoman Lee will be joined on the tour by Acting Under Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Ann Bartuska; ARS Pacific West Area Associate Director Bob Matteri, and Howard Q. Zhang, director for ARS-WRRC. The tour is being held in conjunction with President Obama’s “Recovery Summer” initiative to highlight how stimulus funds have been leveraged around the country. The center has previously been a recipient of federal funding, having recently been awarded $22 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for building maintenance and the construction of a new research wing.

Following the tour, Congresswoman Lee and Acting USDA Under Secretary Bartuska will hold a press conference to announce that the research center is being awarded a joint $949,300 Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy grant from the Department of Energy and the USDA for genetic breeding programs to develop plants that are better suited for bio-energy production.

Who:   Congresswoman Barbara Lee
What: To tour and hold press conference at the Agricultural Research Western Region Research Center
When:  10 a.m. on Thursday, September 2, 2010
Where:  800 Buchanan Street
Albany, CA

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