Susan Collins: “A major, international celebration is expected to commemorate the Saint Croix Island settlement's 400th anniversary.…”

“A major, international celebration is expected to commemorate the Saint Croix Island settlement's 400th anniversary. Pursuant to a memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Canadian Department of the Environment, Parks Canada has worked diligently to prepare for the event. I am concerned that we have not been as enterprising and now face the very real possibility of being less than fully prepared for the 2004 celebration. Indeed, the National Park Service has informed me that it requires planning money in fiscal year 2001 in order to ensure that the Downeast Heritage Center will be completed in time. I have introduced authorizing legislation, S. 2485, that would permit the National Park Service to join with other public and private entities to construct the Center. That bill has been reported out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. I have every hope that the bill will become law this year. Mr. Chairman, as the FY 2001 Interior Appropriations bill goes to conference, I would ask that you do what you can to add $340,000 to the National Park Service construction budget so that it can assist this year in the planning of the Downeast Heritage Center with an eye to its completion by 2004.”