SAVANNAH -- Congress has given its stamp of approval to the $706 million Port of Savannah expansion project, and the final step before a groundbreaking is a project partnership agreement between the Georgia Ports Authority and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The port's backers are hoping this happens soon, and they inserted language into a U.S. House spending bill -- which passed Thursday night -- saying that if the PPA is not signed by Oct. 1, the Army Corps will have to report back to Congress once a week on the status of the negotiation and why is has not been signed. Not exactly a threat to break kneecaps, but it's sending a message.
The House also moved the Obama administration's meager budget request of $1.5 million to construction, from an account to study the project. To add more money would likely be considered a violation of the earmark ban. Here's the full section from the Energy and Water Appropriations Act:
Additionally, in light of the project's inclusion in the recently enacted WRRDA and the fact that the non-federal sponsor has significant funding available to begin work on its project responsibilities, the Committee anticipates the Corps will execute a project partnership agreement with the non-federal sponsor before the end of fiscal year 2014.
If an agreement has not been signed by the date of enactment of this Act, the Corps shall report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 14 days after enactment of this Act regarding the specific reasons for the delay, as well as a schedule for executing the agreement. Thereafter, the Corps shall provide weekly updates until such time as the agreement is executed.
The Senate has not released all the nuts and bolts of its Energy and Water spending bill, thus we don't know if there is companion language in the upper chamber, where the entire appropriations process has ground to a halt in a squabble over amendments -- risking the government running on autopilot after Sept. 30 or, perhaps, another shutdown.
So it's unclear whether this little threat will become law.
Another calendar consideration for a fall groundbreaking is the election.
Republicans Gov. Nathan Deal Senate hopeful Rep. Jack Kingston can claim a big role in making it happen, but will President Barack Obama or Vice President Joe Biden want to grab some glory too? What about Democrats Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn, or former ports board member David Perdue? Endangered Democratic Rep. John Barrow also could see a boost.
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