Sen. Barbara Mikulski on Monday announced she’s proposing more than $100 million in federal funding for projects at the Port of Baltimore.
The funding is part of the fiscal year 2017 Energy and Water Development funding bill, which moves to the Senate floor this week.
“This public investment in the Port of Baltimore is about jobs, jobs, jobs. The Port of Baltimore is an economic engine for Maryland, supporting thousands of jobs and keeping our economy rolling,” Mikulski said in a statement. “From the dock workers who unload the ships to the manufacturers who rely on cargo transported by the ships, the Port means jobs. Through construction jobs and ‘The Corps’ dredging to prepare the Port for the bigger ships that will soon be sailing through the widened Panama Canal, we are supporting jobs today and jobs tomorrow.”
The funds include a little more than $20 million for annual maintenance dredging of the port’s shipping channels, making it deep enough to handle super container ships coming through the Suez Canal and, soon, from the Panama Canal. Another $21.6 million is reserved for dredging in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which serves approximately 40 percent of the port’s shipping traffic. Also, $62.3 million would be appropriated for the Poplar Island restoration, which uses dredged material to stabilize the shoreline, create habitat area and establish wetlands on the island off the Talbot County shore.