Letter to the Honorable Katherine G. Hammack, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy & Environment) - Regarding the New Transformer Yard at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire

Letter

Dear Secretary Hammack:

Thank you for your September 13, 2016, response to my August letter regarding the new Transformer Yard at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire. As Chair of the Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee with specific oversight of military construction, I write to request an update.

As you know, CRREL, a component of the Army Corps of Engineers, provides important environmental research for a broad range of Department of Defense components. As I pointed out in August, CRREL's fulfillment of its mission is being hampered by aging infrastructure. The current transformers in the Transformer Yard are over 50 years old, require constant maintenance, and present a serious safety hazard. A modern transformer yard, built to today's standards, will improve energy efficiency and provide a safer working environment for the scientists, engineers, and staff. For that reason, I requested your support in placing a new CRREL Transformer Yard within the Army's Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Unspecified Minor Military Construction (UMMCA) program.

In your September letter, you responded saying that "The Transformer Yard project at CRREL is the number one priority for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers..." You also wrote that the Army would provide me an update when the FY 2017 UMMCA program is finalized in the "next few months". Since we are now in FY 2017 and almost two months have passed since your letter, I write to request an update. Can you please confirm whether project #88369 for the $1.5 million CRREL Transformer Yard has been included in the FY 2017 UMMCA program?

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Sincerely,

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