FACT SHEET:  Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces Additional Infrastructure Funding for Ports and Waterways

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Invests $2.7 Billion from President’s Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Strengthen Port and Waterway Supply Chains and Climate Resilience
 
Department of the Interior Invests $1.7 billion in Rural Infrastructure for FY 2023

Recognizing the vital role of modern, resilient infrastructure in reducing costs for American families and businesses, President Biden secured unprecedented investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve the country’s ports and waterways – critical links in our supply chains. President Biden’s infrastructure law provides the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investments to modernize ports and waterways after decades of neglect. The funding will not only make them more resilient to climate change impacts, but strengthens supply chains, keeps goods moving through the economy, and enables the U.S. to compete.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing that it will invest more than $2.7 billion in funding to [300] Army Corps projects through the country focused on strengthening ports and waterways. The announcement follows the Biden Administration providing $14 billion from President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other appropriations to strengthen port and waterway supply chains and bolster climate resilience earlier this year. With today’s announcement, the Biden Administration will have invested a total of nearly $17 billion in new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding and other supplemental appropriations in fiscal year 2022 and 2023 for over 800 projects across 55 states and territories.

These key projects will strengthen the nation’s supply chain, provide significant new economic opportunities nationwide, and bolster our defenses against climate change, including investments for:

• The Upper Ohio River, Pennsylvania to construct new lock chambers at Emsworth Locks and Dams that will allow large cargo ships to reliably and efficiently pass through the upper Ohio River system, relieving landside congestion and facilitating timely delivery of goods.
  
• The McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) which moves 12 million tons of agricultural commodities annually in commodities to American farmers and provides flood control to many communities in Arkansas and Oklahoma along the Mississippi River.
  
• Adams and Denver, Colorado for reducing flood risk and an aquatic ecosystem restoration project, which will serve disadvantaged communities surrounding the area.
  
• A project in the City of Watsonville, Town of Pajaro, California and surrounding agricultural lands which have been subject to a long history of flooding.

Additionally, today, the Department of the Interior announced Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding allocations by the Bureau of Reclamation for nearly $1.7 billion in rural infrastructure funding for FY 2023. The plan represents a blueprint for how Reclamation is investing in communities to address drought across the West, as well as greater water infrastructure throughout the country. The Infrastructure Law’s second year funding will be allocated to a number of priorities including:

• $649 million for the Aging Infrastructure Account for major repairs and rehabilitation of facilities;
  
• $248 million for rural water projects that benefit various Tribal and non-Tribal underserved communities by increasing access to potable water;
  
• $95 million for construction of water storage, groundwater storage and conveyance project infrastructure; and
  
• $85 million for the St. Mary Canal diversion and headworks replacement project, which  will include a large fish bypass structure.

The investments announced today further advance the President’s Justice40 Initiative commitment to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments, including in the areas of climate change and critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure, flow to historically marginalized, underserved, and overburdened communities to build their economies and reduce their disproportionate environmental burden. The investments also underscore how President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is delivering results to communities across America, advancing racial equity, combatting climate change, and creating job opportunities for American workers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will initiate projects in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 that:

STRENGTHEN DOMESTIC SUPPLY CHAINS 

American ports and waterways are a cornerstone of the U.S. economy. According to the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure Report issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in 2018, America’s ports supported more than 30 million jobs and approximately 26% of our nation’s GDP. However, decades of neglect and underinvestment have strained their capacity and jeopardized supply chains.

Building on the work this Administration has done this past year to get goods flowing from ships to shelves faster, including $6.6 billion in funding announced through the fiscal year 2023 Budget, today the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is committing $321 million through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand capacity at key ports and waterways to allow passage of larger vessels and further enhance the country’s ability to move goods. These waterside investments will compliment landside investments at our ports and across the goods movement chain such as the Port Infrastructure Development Grants announced in December. Specific projects announced today work to:

Move More Goods Faster at One of the Nation’s Fastest Growing Ports: Investing in ports helps to create resilient supply chains and create jobs. The Administration will invest more than $72 million to widen and deepen the Norfolk Harbor, Virginia Federal navigation channel to increase the resilience of our nation’s supply chain.  The Norfolk Harbor, Virginia, project handles 67 percent more containers in 2021 than it did 10 years ago. Work will improve navigation and enable safer access for larger commercial and naval vessels, and provide significant new economic opportunities to the region.

The Biden Administration is also investing nearly $11 million in the Port of Galveston in Texas by deepening a portion of the Galveston Harbor Channel to accommodate larger vessels throughout the Port that will increase capacity, while also enabling improved operational safety.

Further, the $68 million investment to deepen the Brazos Island Harbor Channel at the Port of Brownsvillein Texas will enable increased cargo movements, reduced transit times and improved operational safety. 

Reduce Congestion on Inland Waterways. Investing in inland waterways creates and sustains jobs, relieves landside congestion, and provides more cost-effective transportation capacities. Recognizing the diverse benefits provided by investing in inland waterways, today, the Biden Administration is announcing it will invest an additional $77 million in the Upper Ohio River, Pennsylvania project to construct new lock chambers at Emsworth Locks and Dams that will allow large cargo ships to reliably and efficiently pass through the upper Ohio River system, relieving landside congestion and facilitating timely delivery of goods.

The Biden Administration is also investing $92.6 million in the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) which moves 12 million tons of agricultural commodities annually in commodities to American farmers and provides flood control to many communities in Arkansas and Oklahoma along the Mississippi River. The investment will upgrade the locks along the system to ensure that much needed commodities are being delivered quickly and efficiently.

BOLSTER RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

The Biden-Harris Administration is leveraging the $17 billion provided by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through fiscal year 2024 to better protect communities from climate change, and protect vital ecosystems and the people and businesses throughout the country that rely on them. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing more than $1.16 billion in invests to reduce coastal and inland flood risk.

Funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law announced today will:
Reduce Flood Risk and Restore Aquatic Ecosystems. The Army Corps will leverage funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to increase community resilience to flooding, including nearly $[482] million to reduce coastal flood risk through 12 projects and more than $[679] million to reduce inland flood risk through an additional 7 projects across the country.  Projects include:

• $350 million to the Adams and Denver, Colorado for flood risk reduction and aquatic ecosystem restoration project, which will serve disadvantaged communities surrounding the area. Components of the project include ecosystem restoration for aquatic, wetland, and riparian habitat along 6.5 miles of the South Platte River, restoring critical habitat connectivity as well as providing recreational opportunities to underserved populations. 
  
• $220 million for the Howard Hanson Dam, WA to maintain flood risk management, increase municipal and industrial water supply to Tacoma Public Utility, and ecosystem restoration. The funding will advance work on the fish passage facility for migrating juvenile salmon and maintain dam performance to support the primary water needs for the citizens of Tacoma. 
  
• $150 million for floodwalls, storm surge barriers, levees, pump stations, and non-structural measures to reduce threats from seal-level rise and increasing storm risk to the City of Norfolk, Virginia. This project will reduce threats from ever-increasing storms and sea-level rise, and damages to residential, commercial, historic and critical infrastructure.
  
• $77 million for Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program (MSCIP) to restore the Mississippi barrier islands to increase resilience to future storm events prevent saltwater intrusion and shoreline erosion, and preserve fish and wildlife habitat. The funding will advance the next phase of the project.
  
• $26 million for Hudson Raritan Estuary to restore 381 acres of estuarine wetland habitat including 16 acres of tidal channels, 50 acres of freshwater riverine wetland habitat, 27 acres of coastal and maritime forest habitat, 39 acres of shallow water habitat and 53 acres of oyster habitat. 

ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The investments announced today will further deliver on the President’s Justice40 Initiative commitment to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits from certain federal investments, including in the areas of climate change and critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure, flow to disadvantaged communities in building their local economies and reducing their disproportionate environmental burden. In addition to the projects mentioned above, the followings projects are examples of projects that will provide benefits to disadvantaged communities. The Administration will provide $115 million to the Southwest Coastal Louisiana Hurricane Protection project which will construct localized storm surge risk reduction features, including features to elevate and flood-proof structures, to reduce hurricane storm surge damage risks in Cameron, Calcasieu, and Vermilion Parishes, communities which are identified as disadvantaged and have been particularly hard hit by the effects of climate change.

In addition, the Administration will provide $67 million to the Pajaro, CA project to reduce flood risk in the City of Watsonville, Town of Pajaro, and surrounding agricultural lands which have been subject to a long history of flooding.

The Administration is also committed to the Espanola Valley, Rio Grande and Tributaries, New Mexico project by providing $2.2 million to complete the preconstruction engineering and design to restore and protect 958 acres of aquatic and riparian habitats. These habitats are critical to the functioning of the third longest river in the country, and are an integral part of constructing social identity and transmission and retention of traditional knowledge for both the Pueblo of Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh.

The Biden-Harris Administration Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 will provide further opportunity to advance infrastructure needs of the nation through the Corps Civil Works program, including through $6.6 billion commercial navigation improvements, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration. 

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