A Vision For Virginia
Just weeks in as Virginia’s transportation secretary, Sean Connaughton told John Gallagher that he’s already planning to leverage his federal experience to loosen the purse-strings on harbour maintenance funds…
SECURING more federal money to pay for dredging Virginia’s ports and harbours became an even bigger priority for Connaughton after President Obama announced on 1 February that he was reducing by 4.1% – to $767M – the amount to be drawn from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund in 2011.
“We’re going to lobby the federal government to spend the money they ended up collecting from importers and domestic shippers for the HMT,” Connaughton told me. “I’m going to make a stronger push for that than has been in the past, because I think I understand better what the problem is.”
As US Maritime Administrator (MarAd) under President Bush from 2006 to 2009, Connaughton headed the agency in the federal transportation department tasked with promoting use of waterborne transportation and its integration with road and rail. The sea leg is hobbled when the president’s fiscal 2011 budget calls for cuts to funding for the US Army Corps of Engineers’ deep-draught maintenance programme.
“We view as a big part of our state’s economic future the growth at the Port of Virginia, and at the heart of that is water depth,” Connaughton said. “We’re dredged to 50ft in most places, but we want to go to 55ft so we can take post-Panamax vessels. So yes, we’re disappointed [about the cutbacks], because when it comes to the Army Corps, it’s really about economic development – and maintaining and improving the infrastructure that’s essential to the economy.”
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