Page 15: of Marine News Magazine (March 2021)

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Column

Inland Waterways

Better Late Than Never

Congress provides last-minute help for small inland and coastal ports

By James Kearns

In two major pieces of legislation passed by Congress at the end of 2020 and appropriated for grants under the Port Infrastructure De- the beginning of this year, Congress addressed the dif? culty velopment Program were reserved for “small” projects. that many smaller inland and coastal ports have in obtain- However, the underlying statute authorizing the Program, ing funding for their infrastructure projects. First, on De- 46 U.S.C. section 50302, de? ned a “small” project as one cember 11, 2020 Congress passed the William M. (Mac) that requested the lesser of $10 million or 10% of the total

Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fis- amount appropriated for the Program for a ? scal year. In cal Year 2021 (NDAA), and on January 1, 2021 overrode the FY 2021 Appropriations Act, Congress appropriated

President Trump’s veto. Second, on December 24, 2020 $230 million for the Program, which effectively meant

Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for that the grant for a “small” project would need to be at ? scal year 2021 (FY 2021 Appropriations Act) which the least $10 million. The infrastructure projects of many in-

President signed three days later. Both statutes contain pro- land and smaller coastal ports frequently do not rise to visions related to the Port Infrastructure Development Pro- this amount. The FY 2021 Appropriations Act provided gram administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration relief from this requirement by reducing the minimum (MARAD) that are helpful to small inland and coastal ports. grant size to $1 million for that speci? c ? scal year, as did

Information about the overall Port Infrastructure De- the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2020. velopment Program can be found on MARAD’s website However, section 50302 remained unchanged on this re- (https://www.maritime.dot.gov/PIDPgrants). This ar- quirement, creating uncertainty as to what the minimum ticle will focus on the provisions in the NDAA and the FY grant size would be from year to year.

2021 Appropriations Act that are particularly relevant to The NDAA amendments address this problem by remov- smaller inland and coastal ports. ing the minimum dollar threshold for grants under the Port

Prior to the NDAA amendments, 25% of the amounts Infrastructure Development Program, and replaced the size © Daniel S. Logan / Adobe Stock www.marinelink.com MN 15|