U.S. ports hail “Cromnibus” bill

Spending bill provides more money for harbor maintenance and reduction of pollution from diesel engines.    The American Association of Port Authorities said the proposed $1.01 trillion spending bill announced by Congress on Tuesday includes “significant increases” for a number of important programs for ports and shipping, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) operations and maintenance activities and construction budgets, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grants program.
   The AAPA said the 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, or “Cromnibus” bill, would reduce the Department of Transportation’s TIGER (Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery) grants program to $500 million compared with fiscal year 2014’s $600 million, but said that is still significantly higher than the House-proposed mark of $100 million.
   “The funding provided to port-related infrastructure programs in this ‘Cromnibus’ is recognition that lawmakers appreciate that seaports, the connections with them and the trade flowing through them, are vital to creating and sustaining jobs, economic growth and enhancing U.S. international competitiveness,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
   Earlier this year, AAPA initiated what it called its “Hit the HMT Target!” campaign aimed at incrementally increasing HMT funding, as outlined in the 2014 Water Resources Reform and Development Act, until the amount collected each year equals the amount appropriated. The campaign urges the Obama administration and Congress to meet WRRDA’s annual HMT funding targets for harbor dredging and expanded uses.
   AAPA said the funding bill agreement also provides a 24 percent increase in the Corps’ fiscal year 2015 coastal navigation construction budget over fiscal 2014, from $155 million to $192 million.
   “The association is looking ahead to President Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget request and for Congress to hit the HMT target that was established in WRRDA, which would provide 69 percent of the $1.9 billion estimated to be collected in 2015 HMT revenues,” Nagle said.