Page 34: of Marine News Magazine (February 2016)

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FUNDING INFRASTRUCTURE

A Weeks Marine hydraulic dredge in action A Weeks Marine hydraulic dredge in action on a navigation project for the USACE.on a navigation project for the USACE.

f “American farmers remain competitive in world markets because of cost savings provided by the Mississippi River and tributaries system. About 70 percent of

U.S. agricultural exports are shipped via the Mississippi. Farmers in other exporting countries, including Brazil and Argentina, can grow the same, quality grain products cheaper than U.S. producers but the MRT i ing the nation’s deep-draft and coastal waterways. Revenues system provides huge cost savings.” f from the HMT are deposited into the HMT Fund, which p provides the Army Corps with money to dredge federally m maintained harbors to authorized depths and widths set by – Sean Duffy, executive director of the

C Congress. In 2008, the U.S. Government Accountability

New Orleans-based Big River Coalition

O Of? ce said that HMT collections greatly exceeded the mon- e ey being used to maintain harbors and noted that the HMT but the MRT system provides huge cost savings,” he said. Fund had a growing surplus. And today, despite the ongoing

Duffy cited numbers released in September by the Mis- surplus, busy U.S. harbors are not being fully maintained. sissippi River Cities & Towns Initiative or MRCTI, a group Inadequate funding from the HMTF has impacted the of 68 mayors from cities and towns in ten states, estimat- Mississippi and all U.S. deep-draft channels that require ing that the river generates $405 billion of revenue yearly dredging and maintenance, Duffy said. “The HMTF has and supports 1.3 million jobs. “The return on investment a surplus of over $9 billion now, and though the Water from dredging and channel maintenance is huge,” Duffy Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 allows said. “In the last ? ve years, the average cost to maintain the for increased funding from the HMTF, full allocations

Mississippi River has been in the range of $125 million aren’t scheduled to begin until 2025,” he said. “In the last annually, and given the 500 million tons of incoming and ? ve years, the Mississippi River ship channel was severely outgoing cargo and a $405 billion annual impact, inad- de? cient many times, meaning it wasn’t funded and main- equate funding for dredging shouldn’t be a factor.” tained at a fully authorized level of 750 feet by 45 feet for most of the stretch below Baton Rouge.”

Big Surplus in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund “Parties responsible for cargo importation pay the HMT,

The federal Harbor Maintenance Tax is a .125 percent but when the lower Mississippi channel isn’t properly ad valorem levy, paid by shippers of domestic and imported maintained at its authorized dimensions and when draft cargo. When it was introduced twenty years ago, the HMT restrictions are required, importers and American consum- was expected to cover the costs of operating and maintain- ers face increased costs from cargo movement and delays,”

February 2016

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