WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (R-GA) and U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) led a bipartisan and bicameral letter, signed by Georgia’s entire congressional delegation, urging key Congressional committee leaders to include text authorizing a study to widen and deepen the harbor in the Port of Savannah in the annual Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (WRDA), which is currently being crafted. WRDA authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to carry out projects relating to water supply, wastewater infrastructure, food control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration across the country.
In the letter, the lawmakers write, “Georgia’s ports are vital supply chain conduits and job creators for Georgia and the United States. The Port of Savannah is by far the busiest container port in the Southeast and is the second most globally connected port in the country, behind only the Port of New York and New Jersey. Due to how important the Port of Savannah is to the United States economy, it is critical to examine deepening and widening the existing project to ensure that the port can continue accommodating the ever-larger container vessels demanding access to these facilities."
The letter, addressed to the top Democrat and Republican on both the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the U.S. House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, highlights the importance of the Port of Savannah to both the Georgia and the United States economy, and why the deepening and widening of the harbor would allow the port to keep pace with the continuously increasing size of container ships.
“Our delegation respectfully asks that both Committees include language to authorize a new feasibility study or modify the study authorized in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 to include the ability to examine the benefits of both widening and deepening the harbor at the Port of Savannah,” the lawmakers concluded.
Read the full letter here.
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