U.S. House introduces water legislation, leaves out Jaxport deepening

[thelakelander]

Jacksonville — and the rest of Florida — are big losers in the Water Resources Development Act the U.S. House Transportation Committee introduced Wednesday.

The bill, which is the main vehicle Congress uses to fund ports projects, includes a line item to fix Jacksonville's Mile Point navigational problem but does not include authorization to dredge Jacksonville's shipping channel to 47 feet.

The bill, if it passes, authorizes only projects that have an Army Corps of Engineers Chief's report completed by the end of 2013. Jacksonville's deepening report is scheduled for completion in April 2014.

full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2013/09/11/transportation-committee-drafts-water.html

[Charles Hunter]

Boo on the JBJ for a sensationalist headline - making it sound like Congress intentionally snubbed Jacksonville, when it is standard practice to only authorize those projects with completed Army Corps of Engineers reports.  Our report won't be finished until sometime next year.  Rapid completion of the environmental impact statement has raised concerns at the Riverkeeper, and other environmental groups, as overlooking the impacts of a deeper channel on salinity and the impacts that will have on the plants and critters living in the river.

[Dog Walker]

Paying for the deepening is bad enough, but who is going to pay for the massive infrastructure upgrades that would be needed to handle the post-panamax ships?  There are going to be huge road and railroad and port projects required.