Obama Signs Water Bill To Boost Ports

#WRRDA signed! Thank you to POTUS, @SenatorBoxer, @RepBillShuster, @DorisMatsui, & others for making today a reality! pic.twitter.com/S26300H7r5 — Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) June 10, 2014

President Obama on June 10 signed a water policy bill into law that allows dredging at ports throughout the country, ahead of the expansion of the Panama Canal.

The Water Resources Reform Development Act (WRRDA) authorizes 34 Army Corps of Engineers projects on port dredging and flood control at a cost of about $12 billion.

Sens.  Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and David Vitter (R-La.), chairwoman and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, respectively, touted the signing. The last time a water policy bill was signed into law was in 2007.

“[The] bill . . . invests in vital water infrastructure that protects communities in California and across the nation from flooding, maintains navigation routes for commerce and the movement of goods, restores vital ecosystems and boosts our economy by creating jobs,” Boxer said.

“WRRDA cuts red tape, reforms the bureaucracy and accelerates the delivery of water resources infrastructure projects, but it does much more than that,” added Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel.

The bill provides assistance to smaller ports that have not been maintained at their approved depths and widths in recent years, and it would allow ports to cover the costs of harbor-deepening projects and request reimbursements when Congress approves them. The bill also limits to three years the period in which feasibility studies must be completed and would streamline the environmental review and permitting process. Additionally, the bill authorizes $50 million a year through fiscal 2018 in discretionary appropriations to be used by certain ports for dredging.

Next year’s expansion of the Panama Canal will allow larger ships to access U.S. waters, but many ports do not have the capability to accommodate vessels of that size. Ports also must invest in larger cranes that can reach across the broader width of those bigger container vessels, which are expected to become the standard for shipping.