Graham demands money for Charleston

Graham demands money for Charleston    U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is demanding funds be provided in the current fiscal year to study deepening the Port of Charleston.
   “It’s imperative we have a 2011 study completed by the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) regarding the deepening the harbor. If we don’t get done this year, we’ll lose another year into a multiyear project,” Graham said in a press conference Tuesday that he held with Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in Charleston.
   “I’m going to go back and tell the leadership of the Senate that this has to be dealt with and until it is dealt with, business as usual will not exist in the United States Senate,” Graham said in an interview on ABC News in Charleston.

Graham

   The two senators said the port needs deeper water to accommodate larger ships expected to increasingly call at East Coast ports after the Panama Canal completes and expansion and new set of locks in 2014.
   Press reports say Graham and Scott are seeking $50,000 to get the deepening studying started. The budgets being prepared by the House and Senate last fall called for $400,000 to be spent on the project, but because the government has been operating under a continuing resolution, money has not been made available for the study.
   Deepening the harbor will cost $300 million to $400 million according to the Corps and take years to complete. But the port said it can be accomplished at less cost than in other ports.
   The administration’s fiscal year 2012 budget includes $600,000 for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.