This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Congressional Agreement on Agricultural Funding Makes Closure of Oconee County Research Facility Nearly Certain

A joint House-Senate Conference Committee has agreed on an agricultural funding bill that makes closure of the J. Phil Campbell Sr. Natural Resource Conservation Center nearly certain.

A joint House-Senate Conference Committee in Washington last night agreed on an agricultural funding bill that makes closure of the outside Watkinsville nearly certain and provides for conveyance of its property to a land grant institution such as the University of Georgia.

The bill includes less money for the Agriculture Research Service, of which the Campbell Center is part, than President Barack Obama requested.

Obama had identified 10 research centers around the country, including the Watkinsville facility, as ones to be closed to make his budget request work.

The House of Representatives is expected to take up the bill later this week and send it to the Senate for action.

Neither the House nor the Senate will be able to strike or add provisions to the bill, according to Alison Thigpen, a member of Georgia’s First District Representative Jack Kingston’s staff.

Thigpen told me in a telephone conversation this morning she expects the House to vote on the bill on Thursday.

For details, go to Oconee County Observations.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Oconee