If Congress approves President Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget, then the planned Federal Correctional Institution-McDowell County may not be built.

"The administration did propose the cancellation of $142 million of new construction balances that had been previously appropriated to our Buildings and Facilities account," said Michael Truman, a public information officer for the federal Bureau of Prisons.

But the proposed budget does not target any correctional facility construction projects for cancellation, said Rich Walker, a spokesman for the federal Office of Management and Budget.

"The budget improves the way prison construction is funded, and we will continue to provide prison construction funding as it is needed," he explained.

While agreeing the president's budget did not name a specific project for termination, Truman indicated only two projects have balances large enough to cover the proposed cuts.

"They are projects in McDowell County, W.Va., and Berlin, N.H.," Truman said.

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., suggested the president targeted FCI-McDowell County for cancellation.

"It is absolutely short-sighted for this White House to try to take away the dollars, already signed into law, for the new federal prison," Byrd said in an April 20 statement. "There is no logic in the White House plans."

FCI-McDowell is planned for the Indian Ridge Industrial Park on the McDowell-Wyoming border on state Route 16. With an estimated cost of more than $100 million, the prison will house 1,152 prisoners in medium security. There also will be an adjacent minimum-security work camp that will house 128 inmates. This project is a win-win for nation and state, Byrd declared.

"The United States, like it or not, needs more prison space. Prisons are overcrowded," he said.

The president's proposed budget supported the senator's claims.

"While current system-wide crowding at federal prisons is at the lowest level in several years, more prison and detention space is still needed," the budget document stated in the U.S. Department of Justice section.