AAPA chairman-elect testifies before Senate committee regarding infrastructure maintenance needs

Port of Cleveland President and CEO William Friedman testified Jan. 10 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as part of a hearing regarding America’s water infrastructure needs and challenges.    The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) Chairman-Elect William Friedman provided examples of waterside infrastructure needs, and offered recommendations for water resources legislation to enhance the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers navigation program during a senate committee today.
  Friedman, who also serves as the president and chief executive officer of the Port of Cleveland, testified today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as part of a hearing regarding America’s water infrastructure needs and challenges.
   Friedman’s testimony focused on issues related to navigation infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement.
   Friedman also discussed the value of constructing and maintaining 21st century infrastructure to the nation’s economic future. He stressed that port-related infrastructure must be part of any broad infrastructure investment legislation the committee develops.
   He also shared three AAPA recommendations for inclusion in the next Water Resources Development Act bill.
   His recommendations were that:
     • Future Harbor Maintenance Tax revenues go directly to the Corps of Engineers rather than into the U.S. General Fund;
     • Congress authorize and build navigation project improvements recommended in the Corps’ Chief of Engineer’s reports;
     •  And that additional streamlining be implemented on the Corps’ study process for navigation channel improvements.
   “Constructing and maintaining the nation’s 21st century maritime infrastructure is essential to the nation’s economic future,” Friedman told the committee. “It is imperative that port related infrastructure be a part of any broad infrastructure investment legislation the Committee develops.”
   In addition to the AAPA’s recommendations, Friedman took time to lobby for federal help for his port in Ohio, which he said is looking at “a potential calamity” to its freight movement industry.
   “At the Port of Cleveland, we are embarking on a $20 million project to stabilize the Cuyahoga River Ship Channel at Irishtown Bend, which is in imminent danger of collapse,” he said. “We seek cooperation with our federal partners on remedying this potential calamity to ensure unimpeded freight movement to support Ohio’s largest steel mill and other industry.”
   Also among those testifying on the same panel were representatives of the Restore the Mississippi Delta Coalition, the National Association of Counties, the Congressional Research Service and the Muskogee City-County Port Authority in Oklahoma.