Omnibus Appropriations Bill Includes Vital Dredging Funds

In late December 2007 both houses of the U.S. Congress passed the $555 billion Omnibus Spending Bill for FY08. It included $70 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan insisted upon by President George W. Bush and $10 billion for local projects described by President Bush |!|wasteful government spending|!| as he signed the bill on December 26.

Below are some of the allocations for dredging projects listed by State. Many address emergency situations.

ALASKA
A dozen Alaska water projects were funded and ports and harbors received significant funding for ongoing projects: Port of Anchorage dredging $15.1 million; Nome harbor dredging $3 million; St. Paul harbor $2.8 million; Unalaska harbor $6.6 million; Ketchikan $564000; Barrow $400000; also funds to address coastal erosion.

CALIFORNIA
Long Beach Harbor River Estuary to maintain navigability of the channel and to extend life of the maintenance to five years $3.2 million Los Angeles Harbor main navigation channel dredging $1.6 million; Los Angeles River ecosystem restoration $580560; West Sacramento levee strengthening $4.37 million; Napa River dredging $230000; Morro Bay harbor dredging $1 million; Humboldt Bay and Harbor $5098104; Crescent City Harbor maintenance dredging $225336. Crescent City Harbor is the only harbor of refuge between Coos Bay Oregon and Fort Bragg California.

CONNECTICUT
Old Saybrook North Cove dredging project $4.4 million; Town of Westbrook $95000 to begin planning and permitting a project to dredge the Patchogue River to return it to appropriate mooring depths. The town already has a reserve fund of $110000 to support dredging projects; Mystic Harbor $187000. Last dredged 50 years ago funding will be used to conduct a sediment sampling and testing program in this channel that is used by deep draft vessels; Long Island Sound Dredged Materials Management Plan $3525000 to develop a comprehensive dredging plan in cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers and the State of New York; Long Island Sound Restoration $4462285 for continued cleanup of this Estuary of National Significance.

FLORIDA
St. Johns River dredging (entrance to Jacksonville deepening portion between Dames Point Terminal and Talleyrand Terminal) $2.8 million; to Florida Inland Navigation District Intracoastal Waterway dredging Jacksonville to St. Augustine $3.7 million. This segment annually transports more than one million tons of commercial cargo and more than 500000 recreational vessels. Palm Beach harbor maintenance $2.6 million; Congressman Boyd secured $1.283 million to dredge Horseshoe Cove dredging $1.283 million. Last dredged in 2001.

HAWAII
Kawainui Marsh Environmental Restoration Project $4034000; Project Condition Surveys $337000 for management of the dredging program and inspection of 25 navigation projects; to conduct hydrographic condition surveys at nine harbors; and to provide review survey information; Kahoolawe Small Boat Harbor Feasibility Study $244000; Waianae Small Boat Harbor $206000. shoaling at the head of the breakwater and within the entrance channel of the harbor has created a hazardous condition by reducing the size of the entrance channel and causing boaters difficulties in maneuvering through the channel.

Dredging of the channel will eliminate the hazards. The Waianae Small Boat Harbor is the busiest serving trailer boats in the state and it generates more than $2 million annually through commercial diving and tourism; Nawiliwili Deep Draft Harbor Modifications $193000 including technical modeling to refine design alternatives.

Nawiliwili is Kauai’s main commercial harbor; Southeast Oahu Regional Sediment Management $492000; Inspection of Completed Works $305000; Haleiwa Small Boat Harbor $206000; Barbers Point Harbor $204000; Maalea Harbor $148000.

MARYLAND
$57.5 million for U.S. Army Corps of Engineer projects: annual maintenance of shipping channels $19.19 million; continued restoration of Poplar Island with maintenance materials dredged from shipping lanes $13.39 million; operations and maintenance of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and approach channels $13.08 million.

MASSACHUSETTS
Broad Meadows Marsh restoration $2.3 million includes dredging to open up about 38 acres of tidal wetlands; Green Harbor dredging $1.9 million to remove approximately 60000 cubic yards of material to improve navigation for a commercial fishing fleet and recreational boaters. Last dredged in 1983.

MICHIGAN
Menominee Harbor Dredging $935000; Great Lakes Navigational System Study $787000; Ontonagon Harbor dredging $595000; Marquette Harbor $358000 Keweenaw Waterway (Portage Lake Shipping Canal) $121000 Au Sable River and Harbor Dredging $98000; Northwestern Michigan College Harbor Renovation – named under the Continuing Authorities Program (Section 107 Navigation Program) but no amount specified; Ontonagon Channel Extension – named under the Continuing Authorities Program (Section 107 Navigation Program) but no amount specified; Sturgeon Bay harbor $608 112 (will be used either for repair of the breakwater or dredging the Sturgeon Bay Harbor and Lake Michigan Shipping Canal;

Port of Monroe $495000 to dredge the main shipping channel at the mouth of the River Raisin for the first time in about eight years. The 300-foot-wide channel used by 1000-foot-long freighters from Lake Erie has narrowed to 160 to 170 feet. Manistee harbor dredging and maintenance $1 million; Onekama harbor $220000; Arcadia harbor $140000.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Cocheco River dredging $2.8 million a project that has been stalled twice due to a lack of federal funding.

NEW JERSEY
Beach restoration $100 million total in 2007- 2008 fiscal year. Sea Bright to the Manasquan Inlet beach restoration and storm damage protection (21 miles) $1.3 million; Port Monmouth section of Middletown storm protection and beach replenishment $877000; complete dredging of the Shark River $491000; storm damage reduction projects in Highlands Keansburg Keyport Leonardo in Middletown and Union Beach $446000; Shrewsbury River dredging and completion of a study on its flooding problems $237000; planning for dredging Shoal Harbor and Compton’s Creek in Middletown $162000.

NEW YORK
Onondaga Lake pollution $984000.

NORTH CAROLINA
Wilmington Harbor deepening $3.7 million; sand restoration Brunswick area beaches $378000; Intracoastal Waterway $5494000; Carolina Beach Inlet $1210000; New Topsail Inlet $841000; Wilmington Harbor Deepening $3745000; Wilmington Harbor maintenance $10362000; Surf City and North Topsail Beach $197000; Lockwoods Folly Inlet $458000; Wrightsville Beach $280000; Masonboro Inlet $467000; Cape Fear Locks and Dams $544000.

OHIO
Huron harbor dredging $467590.

OREGON
Columbia River Channel Improvement Project $14.7 million for deepening to 43 feet including creating or enhancing 2000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat; dredging Columbia River from the mouth to Portland and Vancouver $23.4 million (includes a dredged material management plan for future maintenance dredging in the lower Willamette section); maintenance dredging at the mouth of the Columbia River jetty and repairs to the jetty $14.5 million.

TENNESSEE
Memphis Harbor/McKellar Lake $2.82 million for fully dredging the harbor and to initiate a Regional Sediment Model/Dredged Material Management Plan for dredged material disposal at McKellar Lake.

TEXAS
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway dredging $23.1 million.

WASHINGTON D.C.
Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Port Security Grant program $400 million; Transportation Security Administration’s biometric card reader pilot projects as part of the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program $8.1 million.

WASHINGTON STATE
Swinomish Channel dredging $467000.

WISCONSIN
Green Bay Harbor dredging $4.7 million; small-harbor dredging along the shore of Lake Superior including Port Wing Cornucopia and LaPointe among others $1.5 million.