Federal government moving money-printing facility from Washington to Beltsville Agricultural Research Center site – Baltimore Sun

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing is relocating its foreign money printing plant from Washington to Beltsville, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan introduced Wednesday.

The new $1.4 billion facility can be on the campus of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. The bureau additionally prints foreign money at a plant in Fort Worth, Texas, which opened in 1991 to meet a rise in manufacturing demand.

The 104-acre Beltsville site as soon as served because the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s largest scientific set up, internet hosting 17 analysis laboratories specializing in topics from hydrology to animal husbandry. The facility has since been transferred to the Department of Treasury, which oversees the printing of U.S. foreign money.

“Over the past three years, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the state of Maryland have worked closely on evaluating the potential for this Beltsville facility and determining how we can best work together to make this project successful,” Hogan mentioned in a press release. “Learning that the land has been transferred is another step in the right direction for moving this project forward.”

The facility can be used to print paper foreign money together with different safe federal paperwork. About 40% of U.S. paper foreign money is printed in Washington.

The building of the facility can be managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District and is scheduled to be accomplished by early 2027. Once operational, it’s anticipated to make use of not less than 850 on-site staff and an extra 600 distant workers.

The present facility set to get replaced is between 14th and fifteenth streets in Northwest Washington, simply south of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Money has been printed at that plant since 1914 and has been a well-liked vacationer attraction.

Hogan mentioned the federal, state and county governments will work collectively to enhance a number of intersections close to the deliberate Beltsville facility to alleviate visitors congestion on commuting routes, together with Maryland Route 201, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Powder Mill Road.

According to the Maryland Department of Commerce, the relocation will shorten the commute for the 65% of Bureau of Engraving and Printing workers who reside in Maryland.

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“More than 60 federal agencies call Maryland home, along with dozens of military facilities and federal research and development labs,” Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill mentioned in a press release. “This Beltsville site will provide the convenience the BEP needs to increase its production and advance its manufacturing process, while providing a quality workplace for its employees.”

Maryland is also being thought-about for the brand new dwelling of the FBI’s headquarters. There are three proposed websites: in Greenbelt and Landover, and in Springfield, Virginia.

Fort Meade, a U.S. Army set up situated in Anne Arundel County, is dwelling of the United States Cyber Command and the National Security Agency.

The Secret Service, which is charged with policing U.S foreign money, has a coaching site adjoining to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Facility.

The Food and Drug Administration has a sprawling campus in Silver Spring whereas the National Institutes of Health is headquartered in a posh in Bethesda, and the National Archives and Records Administration operates a large facility in College Park.

“We take pride in knowing Prince George’s County will be one of only two locations in the country where U.S. currency is printed,” David Iannucci, president of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp., mentioned in a press release. “Increasing the number of federal jobs, and federal investment, in the county have long been a key part of our strategic focus for growing the county’s economy.”

Capital News Service is a student-powered information group run by the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism.