Full Support for the Florida Projects

January 21, 2020, by dredgingtoday

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott recently wrote to R.D. James, the Assistant Secretary of the Army – Civil Works, ahead of the Army Corps Engineers finalizing their Fiscal Year 2020 work plan, to ensure that all proposed and ongoing projects in Florida receive full and fair consideration.

This includes maintaining record progress towards the restoration of Florida’s Everglades through projects like the Central Everglades Planning Project and Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir.

The project support list also includes Jacksonville Harbor Deepening project, Port Everglades Harbor Deepening, Tampa Harbor Improvements, etc.

“As you finalize the planning and selection process for the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Work Plan following passage of H.R. 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, we request that all proposed and ongoing projects in Florida receive full and fair consideration of their value to local communities, our state, and our nation,” the senators wrote in the letter.

The two senators also support the allocation of all necessary Operation and Maintenance funding in the FY20 Work Plan—including legally obligated yet outstanding, payments owed to local project sponsors to cover the federal cost-share for work completed by those project sponsors—for the following projects:

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, FL –Includes the Fernandina to St. Johns River, St. Johns River to Miami, and Miami to Key West segments;
Anclote River, FL – Project requires immediate restoration of funding for dredging activities lost via emergency reallocation in the aftermath of 2018 disasters;
Manatee Harbor, FL – Includes need for reimbursements as directed in Senate Report 116-102 and additional funding for the Port Manatee Dredged Material Disposal Area;
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway – Includes the Florida portion of the Northern Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Western Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (Caloosahatchee River to Anclote River).

The full text of the letter can be viewed here.