Page 37: of Marine News Magazine (June 2014)

He noted that Congress appro- priated $1.086 billion in FY 2014, up slightly from the previous year, to USACE for navigation projects reimbursed by the Harbor Mainte- nance Trust Fund. The federal Har- bor Maintenance Tax, established in 1986, is imposed on shippers based on the value of goods moving through ports. The tax is no longer collected on exports. Revenue is placed in a trust fund to be used for maintenance dredging of federal navigation chan- nels. HMTF revenue has grown in the past decade but ports, shippers and dredgers complain that some of the money has been used to offset other federal spending.Holliday said the Hurricane Sandy Emergency Supplemental Appropria- tions bill or H.R. 152, signed into law in Feb. 2013, included about $600 million for maintenance dredging projects in 2013/14 and more than $1 billion for beach replenishment. Deepening the Arthur Kill is part of a project, dating back to 1986, be- tween the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and USACE, to accommodate big container ships. Estimated project costs for NY/NJ Harbor Deepening, including non- federal shares, total $2,675,256,800 since 2002, according to Army Corps spokesman Gene Pawlik in Washing- ton, DC. Deepening of the NY/NJ Harbor should be Þ nished in March 2016. All of its project components were funded separately before FY 2002, Pawlik said. Another major dredge project is deepening of the Delaware River shipping channel from 40 to 45 feet. Delaware deepening, estimated at $338,948,000 including non-federal sharing, should be Þ nished in 2017, if fully funded, Pawlik said. Under a 2008 partnership, the cost of initial www.marinelink.com MN 37MN June14 Layout 32-49.indd 37MN June14 Layout 32-49.indd 375/20/2014 10:22:20 AM5/20/2014 10:22:20 AM