Marine facility to get $20 million

A planned marine biotechnology center at the Inner Harbor has been earmarked to receive $20 million in federal construction money, the office of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., said Friday.

A Senate-House conference committee approved Thursday a 1992 federal budget bill that includes $20 million for the Christopher Columbus Center for Marine Research and Exploration. The center is to be built on parts of Piers 5 and 6 beginning next year.

The bill also included $40 million for upgrading Baltimore's Back River wastewater treatment plant and an extra $11 million in funds for a 324-bed veterans' hospital in downtown Baltimore. The hospital is scheduled to open in October 1992.