Legislative Branch Appropriations for 1996: Justification of the budget estimates

Also included are increases due to projections for the new Botanic
Garden facility at D.C. Village and for chilled water production at the
power plant for the Federal Judiciary Building for fiscal year 1994.

The final factor that has been added to the fiscal year 1994
projections has been an estimated PEPCO rate increase. This last
factor is based on probable PEPCO rate increase requests which must be
approved by the Public Service Commission (PSC), Due to the past
favorable actions by the PSC toward PEPCO, it seems likely that at the
very least PEPCO may be granted a portion of the rate increase. Since
most rate increase requests take months to effect, a rate increase of
5% has been projected for only two quarters of fiscal year 1993 and
three quarters of fiscal year 1994.

If any of these factors should change between the time that this
request has been forwarded to the House and Senate Committees on
Appropriations and the time of the Appropriations Hearings, the
Committees will be notified at the Hearings.

Water and Sever Services Payment increased from $1,995,000
to $2,129,000.

Funds are requested in fiscal year 1994 for the annual payment to
the District of Columbia Government for water and sewer service
charges. These costs were authorized to be paid to the District
Government by Public Lav 101-168. the District of Columbia
Appropriations Act, 1990. The estimated cost of water and sewer
service payments to the District in fiscal year 1994 will be
$2,129,000, according to estimates provided by the District. This is
an increase of $134,000 over the fiscal year 1993 amount.

$134,000

9.5

General annual repairs and alterations increased from $525,500 to $713,000..........

This allotment provides for general annual repair and maintenance
of the power plant buildings including elevators, the extensive
mechanical equipment within the plant and the extensive steam and
chilled water distribution systems. Basic repairs for such items as
steam generators, stokers, ash and coal handling equipment, baghouse
filters, refrigeration compressors, cooling towers, and numerous other
items of equipment required to furnish steam and chilled water are
funded from this allotment. of the increase, $17,500 is requested to
cover the current cost of this program. An additional amount of
$170,000 reflects the present contractual cost of disposing of ash,
which must now be disposed of as hazardous waste. The additional
$170,000 will bring the disposal of ash suballotment to a total of
$320,000. The present contract is based on disposing 10,000 cubic
yards of ash at $31.78 per cubic yard, for a total annual cost of
$317,800.

Annual supplies and materials increased from $404,600 to $434,100......

$ 187,500

29,500

$2.319.000

9.6

The U. S. Capitol Power Plant has two elevators which are located in the steam plant and refrigeration plant, and are 35 and 13 years old, respectively. They have been kept in excellent condition, but have not had any comprehensive upgrades since installation. The elevator in the steam plant is becoming a major problem, primarily due to its age, constant usage and to the lack of available parts. This request is to provide funding for renovation of this elevator.

Replace Two Plant Vehicles...

There is a need for replacement of the plant dump truck and the van used by the Tunnel Crew. The trucks are 15 and 17 years old respectively. The vehicles are used almost daily in transporting personnel and materials from the Plant to jobsites on Capitol Hill or to landfills for rubbish disposal. Use in an industrial type atmosphere places heavy demands on the trucks and they incur more than average wear. For these reasons, replacement trucks are needed to insure reliable transportation to continue these activities.

Replace Opacity Monitors.

Opacity monitors gauge the baghouses to ensure that smoke or other particulate emissions are not flowing into the atmosphere. The current opacity monitors are 12 years old, and due to rapid improvements in technology and design, they are practically obsolete. The manufacturer discontinued production of the current model several years ago. It is now extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain parts to repair these units. For this reason, there is a need to purchase two new state of the art opacity monitors equipped with sensors and microprocessors. Opacity monitors, with availability of spare parts, will guarantee that the Capitol Power Plant will continue to be within EPA guidelines on monitoring of emissions. The total estimated cost for these two units is $50,000.

$

50,000

9.7

Softener resin removes the hardness from the water that is
processed through the boilers. This preventive measure eliminates the
possibilities of deposits forming on tube interiors, thus preventing
leaks and failures. The useful life of softener resin is approximately
seven years. The present resin was purchased and installed in 1986 and
is now at a point in its life cycle where the "runs" or amount of water
processed through a softener tank, are beginning to drop in capacity.
Chemical service consultants confirm that the resin, through laboratory
analysis, is beginning to break down and degrade. The softners are a
vital part of the process in which makeup water for the boilers is
softened by removing the hardness particles. There are three softener
tanks, each containing 85 cubic feet of resin, or a total of 255 cubic
feet for the tanks. The present cost of softener resin is $115 per
cubic foot. Allowing for 10 percent spare resin to account for
settling, the total requirement amounts to 280 cubic feet, and a total
cost of $33,000. Installation of the resin in the tanks will be
performed by plant personnel.

Replace Baghouse Filters..

Baghouse filters are necessary to trap foreign matter entrained in
exhaust gases from the coil boiler flues, and thus prevent the emission
of pollutants into the environment. The normal period of time between
the rebagging of a baghouse is four to five years. Bags were last
purchased in fiscal year 1990. Therefore, new bags need to be
available to replace the current ones as their useful life expires.

$ 33,000

78,000

9.8

The cost of new bags including a spare reserve of ten percent is based on buying 1,500 bags at $51 per bag for a total of $76,500. Also included in this request is a cost for an outside consultant to inspect the bags and bag fabric for quality assurance and conformance with the contract specifications. This amount is approximately $1,500 or a total request of $78,000.

The rebagging installation will be performed by plant personnel.

By 1995, the use of refrigerant CFC-12, (R-12 freon) will be restricted and production will be reduced by approximately 50 percent due to changes in environmental regulations. An evaluation of the chillers at the U. S. Capitol Power Plant has been made for the purpose of refrigerant conversion from CFC-12 to HFC-134a, which is the refrigerant best suited at the present time for substitution.

The survey of the chillers has revealed that the units will require major modifications to accept the new gas. The modifications will require considerable work including new seals, gaskets, lubricants, rotors, diffuser plates, and gear reducer adjustments. Due to different operating pressures, new and thinner rotors are required to enable smooth operation without surging, or oscillating, throughout the entire operating range. Also included in the total estimate is eddy current testing of the condenser tubes to insure quality.

9.9

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