Rep. hopes to get $13B

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has asked for more than $13 billion for various projects and programs in the 2010 fiscal year federal budget, including about $26 million for local projects.

Now that Rohrabacher and other representatives have submitted their wish lists, federal appropriators will determine which requests are approved.

Most of Rohrabacher’s requests were for defense projects and programs, but Rohrabacher also asked for earmarks for several local agencies and organizations in his wish list, including about $15 million in water-treatment projects.

“Since my very first days in Congress, water and energy have been priorities,” Rohrabacher said.

Rohrabacher requested nearly $2 million for the city of Huntington Beach to enact a water-system-reliability program, including the construction of several pump stations, according to the request.

In Fountain Valley, Rohrabacher asked for about $7 million to enhance the capacity of the Orange County Water District’s new Groundwater Replenishment System, which highly treats wastewater and sends it back into local aquifers, by 18 million gallons per day; when the upgrade is complete, the project would release 88 million gallons per day.

He also asked for $5 million for the Orange County Sanitation District’s upgrade of its secondary treatment plant, to send treated wastewater to the Groundwater Replenishment System; $2.5 million for the rehabilitation of two deteriorating pump stations for the city; and $500,000 for a Smart Irrigation Controller Installation Program for the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

Rohrabacher asked for $5 million to expand capacity on the 405 Freeway, adding up to two lanes from Euclid Street in Fountain Valley to the 605 Freeway in each direction.

Although it wasn’t near the top of his prioritized list, Rohrabacher also requested $3 million to build three career-development and wardrobing centers for Fountain Valley-based Working Wardrobes, to be built in Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire.

The charity offers clothing and job training for people in need who don’t have suits and other business clothes to wear to job interviews.

Rohrabacher also asked for nearly $1 million to fund a new Criminal Justice Training Center at Golden West College, which includes a 3-D “virtual training facility” for regional law enforcement.