Politics

Edwards seeks grant for Etowah-Horse Shoe EMS station

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 29, 2024

U.S. Congressman Chuck Edwards announced that he has requested nearly $38 million from the House Appropriations Committee to assist rural and underserved communities and law enforcement in Western North Carolina, including $2 million for a new EMS substation to serve the Etowah-Horse Shoe community.

The facility would provide a lifesaving base for emergency response in a growing part of the community, significantly improving response times in the Etowah Horse-Shoe Fire District, which serves 14,005 people.

Edwards identified 15 projects across Western North Carolina, the maximum number allowed by the Appropriations Committee. The priorities, known as “Community Project Funding requests,” would benefit some of the most economically distressed and underserved areas in the 11th District. In the last appropriations cycle, Edwards, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, secured nearly $19 million for Western North Carolina.

The Appropriations Committee will review the requests and decide whether each project will be funded and if so, at what level. The projects would be funded in fiscal year 2025, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025, and would tangibly improve the lives of taxpayers throughout our mountains.

Edwards prioritized funding requests that would benefit rural areas of need in Western North Carolina, especially water and sewer projects, in addition to supporting law enforcement and emergency response needs in larger cities.

Requests included funding for rural hospitals, fire departments, police and water and sewer upgrades in counties across the 11th Congressional District.