Jaxport, Miami, Port Everglades land DHS grants

Jaxport, Miami, Port Everglades land DHS grants The Florida ports of Jacksonville, Miami, and Port Everglades all received in excess of $1 million in the latest round of Department of Homeland Security port grants, which have been increasingly weighted toward larger ports considered to have greater security risks.
   The DHS did not award any grant money to the Port of Tampa and Port Canaveral'even though the ports had submitted grants requests'and awarded $37,890 to Port Manatee. The ports of Palm Beach, Pensacola, Port St. Joe and Panama City were eligible to submit grant applications but chose not to under the new system.
   The latest round of DHS port security grants divided the nation's 50 eligible ports into four tiers, with Houston, New York/New Jersey and the combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach qualifying for Tier 1 and receiving the largest grants. The Port of New York/New Jersey received $25.7 million, more than twice as much as any other port in the country.
   Jaxport was the only Florida port ranked as high as Tier 3. It received $3.7 million for its 2006 grant.
   The Port of Miami received $2.2 million and Port Everglades received $1.4 million. Miami, Port Everglades and Port Manatee were all in the final tier under the DHS rankings.
   Explaining the criteria for port grants, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff commented:    'The Infrastructure Protection Program helps to protect our nation's critical infrastructure from threats and hazards that could cause major loss of life, economic impact, and disruption of services. These resources will further enhance risk-based initiatives to increase security around vital assets ranging from ports, to chemical facilities, to transportation systems. The IPP grants also represent a major step forward in how the department integrates expert input and risk-based formulas into the allocation of limited resources.'