VP Joe Biden stops in Yellowstone to tout Recovery Summer Play Video
Posted: Jul 26, 2010 7:16 PM
Updated: Jul 27, 2010 5:06 PM
A small, intimate group gathered at Yellowstone National Park on Monday to hear Vice President Joe Biden talk about what's being called Recovery Summer.
Outside the ranger station near Madison Junction, Biden, accompanied by numerous Secret Service agents and a cadre of others, took the stage to tout the Recovery Act to a crowd of about 100 park staff members and their families.
Framed by a backdrop of mountains, trees, water and a line of vehicles backed up in the distance, the Vice President talked to the group about Recovery Act projects and how these jobs are helping to polish the jewels that are our national parks.
Biden says that for too long these jewels have been ignored.
"If we were booming at nine percent growth, if we had zero unemployment, everything we're doing in this park is worthwhile. They needed to be done anyway, whether the times are good or bad. We needed this to be done and much more in my view," Biden said.
The Recovery Act is funneling three-quarters of $1 billion into our national parks with most of those projects happening this summer. That includes 10,700 highway projects and 3,000 clean water projects, Biden said.
One of those projects is located just down the road from where the Vice President spoke near Madison Junction. The Madison water treatment enhancement project is underway. It will replace the old, flood-prone facility with a new one. The new facility will be able to process 75,000 gallons of wastewater compared to the 30,000 gallons the old one could process, according to Biden.
"With the majesty of Yellowstone stretching out behind me, most people don't really want to be talking about wastewater facilities, but it's all part of how we're going to improve this park and all parks, while making the facilities more efficient and in a sense less visible in every way," Biden said.
As Director of the National Park Service Jonathan Jarvis put it on Monday, "it's really about trash and toilets."
About $750 million has been given to the National Parks system for recovery, Jarvis said.
According to Jarvis, Yellowstone contributes $340 million to the local economy and provides more than 5,000 jobs. For every $1 invested in the park, there is a $4 return, he added. Therefore, funneling money into the parks for Recovery Act projects is a "great investment," Jarvis said.
The Vice President says the goal of these projects and others like it is to preserve the parks. These Recovery Act projects are also creating jobs. He also believes the Recovery Act projects will make the parks more accessible, polish them and, hopefully, preserve them for the generations to come.
Before shaking hands with members of the audience and posing for photos, Biden told the crowd his next plan was to spend some time in the park with his granddaughter Naomi.
