Posted on January 4, 2023
On December 29th, President Biden signed into law the FY23 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that included Energy & Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was great news for the AIWW and all along Marine Highway 95!
We want to provide a breakdown of the final funding amounts for the AIWW/IWW/NJIWW along with the Additional Dredging Needs funding pots. The additional dredging needs for Navigation Maintenance and Small, Remote and Subsistence Navigation funding will be allocated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in early 2023, and our projects are eligible for these additional funds. Below is the breakdown from north to south.
New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway – $1.06 million
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway:
VA – Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal – $7.035 Million, Dismal Swamp Canal – $3.971 Million
NC – $15.805 Million
SC – $4.515 Million
GA – $3.77 Million
FL – $6.23 Million
To be allocated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a work plan in early 2023:
Additional Dredging Needs for Navigation – $32 million
Additional Dredging Needs for Operations and Maintenance – $65 million
One item to note is the $2 million Community Project Funding request (aka earmark) by Rep. Brian Mast of Florida did make it in the final bill. Also, we need to wait and see if we receive any additional funding from the Corps in early 2023, but the current amount is $11.38 million more than we received in the final FY22 allocations ($29.953 million). This means between FY22, FY23 and the 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding for the AIWW/IWW we received $93.458 million, and $109.853 if we include our efforts with the NJIWW. These are our highest amounts ever!
In addition, we expect additional funding in February 2023 from the 2022 IIJA as that money is allocated over 2022-2023 and 2024. We received funding in the 2022 allocation but not 2023. Looking forward, the AIWA continues to work to secure funding for the reduction of the operations & maintenance backlog for the waterway and look forward to more success in the coming year.
