Maritime groups lobby for increase in navigation funding

Inland waterway and port communities urged Congress to use available revenues for water infrastructure investments.    Congress should increase funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ fiscal year 2016 navigation program by $407 million over the current level, a coalition of ocean and river navigation interests said in a letter Friday to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
   Investment is urgently needed to make up for a backlog of maintenance and construction projects aimed at ensuring vessels can operate without restriction in commercial ports and inland waterways, and legislation enacted last year set the table for more dollars to be spent to achieve that goal, according to the private and public sector organizations.
   “The recent West Coast freight movement disruption vividly shows the adverse economic impacts that can occur when efficient movement and handling of maritime cargo is lost. We must maintain our navigation channels and inland waterways for safe and efficient freight movement to avoid similar impacts nationwide over the long term,” the letter said.
   Signatories included the National Association of Manufacturers, Archer Daniels Midland, the American Association of Port Authorities and the AFL-CIO. The group is seeking $2.75 billion, up from the $2.35 billion approved in a December omnibus appropriation for 2015, to expedite ongoing engineering and feasibility studies for harbor deepening projects, channel improvements, lock construction and rehabilitation on rivers, and other requirements.
   The coalition urged Congress to follow through on implementing policies in last year’s Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) and the Tax Increase Prevention Act (TIPA).
   WRRDA instituted a phased approach to fully utilizing the money in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund collected on certain cargo and cruise passengers moving through ports. Revenues have risen to more than $1.8 billion a year, but Congress has only directed half the money for its intended purpose. By 2025 all the revenue is to be used for deepening and widening navigation channels to their authorized dimensions. Congress this year gave the Army Corps $1.12 billion and the HMT percentage assigned for 2016 is supposed to bring the total to $1.25 billion.
   With the passage of TIPA, more robust funding should also be possible for upgrading locks on river systems, where billions of dollars of agricultural, petrochemical and energy commodities move to domestic and international customers.
   TIPA included a nine-cent increase in the diesel tax paid by barge companies to help fund the cost of new lock and dam construction, and major rehabilitation. The diesel tax hike to 29 cents per gallon is set to take effect April 1 and will raise an estimated $35 million to $40 million in additional annual funds for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, an amount that is to be matched from general tax receipts.
   It is unclear when Congress will finish an appropriation bill covering energy and water programs. Congress passed a massive budget bill in December to avoid a government shutdown when it couldn’t pass individual appropriation bills, as its supposed to, by Oct. 1.