Budget sets dredging adrift - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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billion fiscal 2009 budgetf request forthe ' civil works program includees no money to complete the next phase of channep deepening in Jacksonville harbor. In what has becomer a familiar occurrence, the , local sponsor for channeol deepening, will need to lobby Congress to add money toward thefederap government's $15 million share of the $22 milliom project. Last year, Congress includee $2.8 million after the administration's fiscao 2008 budget request for civio works left Jacksonville harbor off its list of constructionh projectsto fund.
Shippingf and logistics professionals have said thechannel -- 41 feet for much of the way and 38 feet for the rest -- must be deepener to at least 45 feet for the port of Jacksonville to be competitive. That's being driven largely by the Panamza Canal's expansion, to be completed in and containerized cargo portsin S.C., and Savannah, Ga., whose channels are 45 feet and 42 respectively. The current projectf is to increase the deptuh to 41 feet from milemarkerr 14.7 to Talleyrand Marine Terminal, a roughly five-nauticap mile stretch of the St. Johne River. Channel deepening as far as marker 14.7, about three miles west of Dame Point, was completed in 2002.
"We see it as a continuatiohn project," said Eric Green, the authority's senior directort for government andexternal affairs, referring to a categorhy of projects normally given greater prioritgy than new projects. "That's the case we'll be pleading." The administration's funding request for coastal navigatiom construction infiscal $188 million, is up 13.3 percent from its fiscapl 2008 request of $166 About $151 million for coasta navigation construction is requested for deepening projects deemed high priority: New York-New Jerseg Harbor, Oakland (Calif.) Harbor and Columbia River (Wash.-Ore.
) Much depends on a project's benefit-to-cosrt ratio, or BCR, said Dave director of navigation policy and legislation for the . "Inclusion in the president's budget request typically reflectsa high-priority, well-justified project." The Jacksonville project'sd BCR was calculated at 1.7 in said Steven Ross, project manager for the Corps of Engineers' Jacksonvillse District office. The BCR has risenn to just under 2 since then as certain designj costs havebeen absorbed. By the Oakland deepening project -- to 50 feet -- has the highesy BCR at 8.5. The administration's budgetr request includes $25.
1 million to continure construction onthat project, whicy has received more than $90 million in funding durin g the past two fiscal years. Only the New York-Nea Jersey harbor project, with a BCR of 2.7, has receivecd more funding in that time at morethan $180 This year's request seeks another $90 million for the New York-News Jersey harbor. The Columbisa River Channel Improvement Project to deepenthe 103.5-mile channelk between Oregon and Washington state had the lowest BCR, 1.5, of any coastal navigation construction project included in the budgeft request. One other coastal navigation project made the list with a BCR lower than theJacksonville harbor: the St. Luciee Inlet, BCR of 1.
7, for whicgh the president's budget requests $4 million. This year, the authority plans to contribute its entire share for theJacksonvillee project, $7 million, rather than a prorated share of abougt $900,000. The authority's money plus the federal government's $2.8 million will enablew the Corps of Engineers to deepen the stretcnh known as the Chaseville Turn and possibly morethis year. The authorithy hopes that the federal government will come througjh with the remainder of its sharer to complete the project infisca 2009. "We will be seeking the full fundinhgfor that," Green said. "I don't think we can breakj [the project] up again.
" If the authority can get the remaining federal share, it will then continude pushing to increase the depth to 45 feet or more. The Corpsa of Engineers' Jacksonville which oversees projectsin Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, is studying the feasibility for furthedr deepening, Ross said. Although that stud y could take two tothree years, authority Executive Director Rick Ferrin has said the cost to achieved 45 feet is estimated at $400 million, with the authority'e share being $220 million.
The authority is hopefu it can generateabout $14 million a year from leasing land to a coal termina operator and bond that revenue to pay its A major obstacle is acquiring the land the authoritt envisions using for The land belongs to , whichu doesn't want to sell, so the authority will go to tria l in April to determine what it must pay to take the land by eminengt domain. With the Panama Canal expansion as the primaruyeconomic driver, Jacksonville's BCR could benefiy from new circumstances, including the earlu 2009 opening of a new containe terminal bringing service to Asia and another larger terminalp possibly coming in 2011.
"As things change, the port coulxd be in position for any opportunities thatmay exist," Ross "Having 'benefits' constructed versus thosse that may be built in the future helps the localp sponsor." Green believes the new terminals and Jacksonville's positiobn in the growing Southeast give its project a chance to move up on the Corpzs of Engineers' list. "Asd Jacksonville is growing at therate it's he said, "they have to really pay attentioj to us.
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