The U.S. Senate's passage of the federal Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA) has cleared the way for construction to begin on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. The House passed identical legislation on Tuesday.
Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis Foltz called the bill's passage a critical milestone.
The bill officially lifts the spending limit set when lawmakers first authorized the project in 1999, which will allow both state and federal dollars to flow to the port deepening.
"This landmark legislation will update an outdated spending cap that was put on the Savannah Harbor deepening project more than a decade ago, eliminating the last legislative hurdle and allowing us to use the money we have set aside to begin construction," said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.
Once the US president signs WRRDA into law, Georgia will enter a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The PPA defines how the costs of the project will be shared between the state and federal government.
Foltz said he expects to have a binding PPA within 90 days, allowing accelerated use of Georgia's portion of the funding. These funds will be credited against the state's ultimate cost share at the end of construction.
Initial contracts will include dredging to extend the entrance channel from the mouth of the Savannah River by seven miles farther into the Atlantic Ocean.
Other early project elements include mitigation features such as an oxygen injection system, a freshwater storage alternative for the city of Savannah and recovering the CSS Georgia.
The project is necessary because the world fleet is moving to larger ships. The average vessel calling on the U.S. East Coast is shifting from a capacity of 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) to approximately 9,000 TEUs.
Posted on May 23, 2014 with tags Clears, expansion, harbor, Hurdles, port, Savannah, WRRDA.