Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2022)

cially viable, and have been required to Notably, the Senate Environment and the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to provide at a 20% cost-sharing commit- Public Works Committee approved its stretch much farther, with clear ben- ment, this amendment would add a new version of WRDA on May 4, 2022, e? ts for inland vessel and marine ter- level of importance to such elements which would fund 21 USACE new or minal operators. While both the NDAA during MARAD’s award decision pro- modi? ed projects. However, unlike and WRDA await ? nal Senate consid- cess. Accordingly, in developing their the House version, the Senate version eration, and likely will require bicam- applications, inland operators would would also increase the cost share to eral conferences to resolve differences need to concentrate additional focus on 75% from general Treasury funds, between the House and Senate ver- the quantitative measurements demon- correspondingly decreasing the cost sions, it appears that there is strong bi- strating a proposed project’s ? nancial share to 25% from the Inland Water- partisan support for tremendous inland viability. ways Trust Fund. This would follow port and waterway funding. As always,

Similar to the PIDP, the potential the trend of the 2020 WRDA, which inland maritime stakeholders should

America’s Marine Highway funding moved the relative cost share between continue to express strong support to would follow-up on a very successful general Treasury funds and the Inland their Congressional representatives for

FY 2022 for the program. The Bipar- Waterways Trust Fund from 50%/50% the PIDP, America’s Marine Highways, tisan Infrastructure Law appropriated to its present 65%/35%. The increasing and WRDA, to ensure that the current $25 million for the program, while the use of general Treasury funds allows momentum is sustained.

FY 2022 Appropriations Act appropri-

The Author ated an additional $14,819,000. On

April 26, 2022, MARAD published an

Vogel amended Notice of Funding Opportu-

Jeff Vogel is a partner in Cozen nity to release the additional funding,

O’Connor’s Transportation & Trade

Group. Jeff can be reached at jvo- raising the total available funding to [email protected] $39,819,000, and extending the ap- plication deadline to June 17, 2022.

MARAD anticipates making its ? nal award decisions later this year. In April,

MARAD also announced a new ma- rine highway route designation (M-3

Kaskaskia River in Illinois) as well as new project designations for an exist- ing ferry service across Lake Michigan between Ludington, Mich., and Mani- towoc, Wis., and for the northwest con- nection between Alaska, Hawaii and

Washington.

Water Resources Development Act

In addition to the NDAA, the Water

Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill continues its steady path towards enactment on a two-year cycle. On

June 8, 2022, the House passed its ver- sion of WRDA with a vote of 384-37, signaling the bill’s strong bipartisan support. The House version would au- thorize $25.3 billion to help fund 22

Army Corps of Engineers (UASCE) dredging, storm and ? ood protection, and ecological restoration projects. !m|;um-?om-?!;]bv|ub;vl0 [email protected] bm-L?b-?om?b|_|_;-uv_-??v?-m7v

The bill is expected to be taken up -ub?l;sourou-|;7lbmbv|u-|ouv www.register-iri.com by the Senate in the coming weeks. www.marinelink.com 19

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