Posted on February 15, 2018
By Tim Acosta, Caller Times
After nearly 30 years of waiting, the Port of Corpus Christi has received a show of support from the federal government for funding related to its ship channel expansion project.
To top it off, the recommendation is coming directly from President Donald Trump.
Trump included about $13 million in funding for the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Expansion project in his President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2019, said port CEO Sean Strawbridge on Monday. The news marks the first instance that a sitting U.S. president has proposed funds toward the $327 million ship channel project in a President’s Budget, port officials said.
“This is an historic day for the Port of Corpus Christi,” Strawbridge said. “This is huge for us.”
Six CEOs from American energy companies sent a letter to Trump — with Strawbridge sending one, as well — late last month urging the president to allocate $60 million for the port’s ship channel expansion project in his FY 2019 budget. The $13 million in funding was allocated to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — with whom the port has an agreement for the channel work — in its civil works budget.
“It’s clear that the CEOs’ letter made an impression,” Strawbridge said.
The six CEOs said their companies had invested about $50 billion in industrial projects underway in South Texas that “rely on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel to move our products.” Those projects, they said, created thousands of jobs and billions in additional economic output, adding that the port’s ship channel expansion project could also help lower the nation’s current $65.3 billion trade deficit.
“Many of those new industrial projects include announced pipelines from Permian Basin to the Port of Corpus Christi designed to handle significant increases in U.S. oil and gas production, which will enhance U.S. energy dominance and our allies’ energy security well into the future,” the Jan. 29 letter from the CEOs stated.
Gene Pawlik, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Trump’s budget is more of a recommendation for lawmakers on what the president feels are priorities for the country. Congress will ultimately be responsible for the decision on whether the funding makes its way to the Corps for the Corpus Christi Ship Channel project.
“It’s not an actual appropriation,” Pawlik said. “That still is on Congress.”
Trump’s recommendations could show up in the federal Fiscal Year 2019 budget, which begins in October of that year. In addition to the $13 million for the channel work, Trump’s budget includes a little over $5 million from the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to help with the channel’s operations and maintenance, Army Corps of Engineers officials said.
Strawbridge said the port would work with the Army Corps of Engineers to make up the difference in what Trump’s budget allocated for the ship channel expansion and the $60 million requested.
Port officials are hoping to have the project — which would widen and deepen the channel to accommodate larger vessels and a greater variety of goods — completed by 2021, when the replacement for the Harbor Bridge is scheduled to open.
Source: Caller Times
