WRDA bill big step for Port of Miami dredging

WRDA bill big step for Port of Miami dredging The congressional override of a presidential veto Thursday that enacted the 2007 Water Resources Development Act into law represents an important step for planned dredging at the Port of Miami.
   But the legislation is just one step in the legislative funding process.
   The Senate voted 73-14 on Thursday in favor of the override, joining the House of Representatives, which had voted 361-54 in overriding Bush’s veto of the Water Resources Development Act.
   The WRDA authorizes expenditures of $23 billion for hundreds of water resources projects such as harbor dredging, improvement of inland waterway locks and dams, hurricane protection and restoration of the Everglades.
   The WRDA bill included authorization for the Port of Miami Phase III Dredging Project, which would deepen the port's south ship channel to 50 feet.
   Authorization for the project, however, does not mean Congress has appropriated the funding for the dredging, which would cost an estimated $126 million. The actual funding for the project would have to come from separate appropriations bills, which often fund only a portion of authorized projects.
   An example of the process is the dredging project to deepen the ship channel in the Miami River. That project was authorized in the last WRDA bill passed in 2000. That bill authorized $86 million for the river, and although several smaller appropriations have been approved in spending bills, the project has yet to be fully funded. City, county and state officials are still working with the South Florida congressional delegation to get a final block of funding for the project, hopefully during this calendar year.
   Congress received congratulations for the override from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Waterways Council, the American Association of Port Authorities, among others.
   “Congress acted swiftly to address the backlog of needs of our inland waterways and provided the Army Corps of Engineers the coordinated federal agenda we need to undertake hundreds of flood control, navigation and environmental mitigation projects over the next two years,' Janice Kavinoky, director of transportation and infrastructure at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
   “This bill will provide the necessary infrastructure upgrades to ensure the competitiveness of the nation’s exports. This bill is long overdue.”