Times Staff Report

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., announced Monday the region is poised to receive $58 million for local projects for flood control, environmental protection and infrastructure improvements.

The projects were included in a consolidated appropriations bill that is set for a vote in the House of Representatives later this week, Visclosky's office reported. The measure also would require a vote in the U.S. Senate before heading to the president.

The projects include:

-- $17.8 million to continue the construction of the confined disposal facility in the Indiana Harbor in East Chicago, including an air monitoring program and a groundwater treatment plant.

-- $14.8 million for levee work along the Little Calumet River, which includes 22 miles of levees and flood walls in Gary, Griffith, Hammond, Highland and Munster.

-- $5.9 million to continue development of the Northwest Indiana Computational Grid, a cooperative effort between Purdue University Calumet, Notre Dame and Argonne National Laboratory.

-- $5.4 million for projects at the Burns Waterway Harbor International Port, including navigational dredging, infrastructure repairs and condition surveys.

-- $4.3 million for a project to restore water quality in Cedar Lake.

-- $2 million to expand the Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana by 12,000 square feet to accommodate more business recruitment efforts.

-- $2 million to build a methane gas cogeneration plant in Munster that would convert gas from waste and refuse into electricity for the local power grid.