MARINE CORPS AIR STATION, YUMA, Ariz. -- The air station is slated to receive $6.4 million from the president’s recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the stimulus package.
The money will fund several construction projects on station, including solar energy panel construction, air conditioning unit repairs, repairs to the ordnance access road and sanitary sewage systems, as well as funding for geothermal energy exploration on the Barry M. Goldwater Range, east of here.
Although geothermal energy exploration on the range will not directly affect anything on station, the sale of possible future energy produced there would benefit the Marine Corps in years to come.
“There is definitely an emphasis on energy conversation,” said Ron Durfrey, station energy manager. “The government has set the goals very high for where the Department of Defense needs to be in terms of our use of renewable energy in the next 20 years. Every project we do is a step in that direction.”
While other renewable energy projects are planned, the solar project chosen was picked because it could begin within the next 120 days, which is one of the stipulations of the funding.
On March 20, the Department of Defense announced details of approximately 3,000 military construction and facility improvement projects funded by the stimulus package, signed by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17. The $5.9 billion budget for these construction and repair projects represents the bulk of the approximately $7.4 billion in defense-related funding provided by the act.