Just as the state of Georgia was queuing up to put its first dredge in the water and reap the rewards of a long-fought 15-year battle to deepen the Savannah River channel, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project has hit yet another snag.
After the president’s 2015 budget was released Tuesday with no construction funding designated for the $652 million project, Gov. Nathan Deal vowed the state would go ahead with work this year by dipping into the $231 million the state had set aside as its share of the cost.
Tuesday evening, the White House said it can’t let the harbor expansion move ahead, no matter who’s footing the bill, until Congress passes a multi-billion-dollar water bill that’s been stuck in committee since October.
The Water Resources Development Act contains language that would correct an outdated spending cap placed on the Savannah harbor expansion when it was first authorized by Congress 15 years ago. The price tag has grown by $193 million since then, and the White House says Congress needs to raise the spending limit before it can approve any construction.
“Because Congress hasn’t reauthorized the Water Resources Development Act in more than seven years, many projects like the project in Savannah haven’t been able to move forward,” the White House said in a statement Tuesday evening. “This is not a budget problem, this is an authorization problem.”
Georgia officials disagree, pointing to the federal spending bill approved by Congress and signed into law by the president in January.
That bill, according to U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, essentially moves the project from the planning category to the construction category and suspends spending caps on the Savannah harbor and other projects for two years.
“There is no longer any gray area. In the eyes of the Senate and the House, this is now an ongoing construction project,” the Savannah Republican, who inserted the language, said in February.
Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson agreed with Kingston’s assessment.
“I voted for the appropriations bill because it contained several key provisions that are critically important to Georgians and the economic future of our state — including language that will help us make progress with Georgia’s No. 1 economic development project — the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project,” Isakson said at the time.
Savannah’s harbor expansion project, which will deepen the Savannah River channel from 42 to 47 feet in anticipation of the larger container ships coming through an expanded Panama Canal in 2016, is already playing catch-up to the canal project.
“We’ve really been playing catch-up for the last five years for one reason or the other,” Georgia Ports executive director Curtis Foltz said Wednesday.
“We simply can’t afford to wait any longer, so our intention is to move forward with those things we can do.”
Foltz said he spoke with Deal Wednesday morning and “the governor is committed to doing everything allowed by law now” as they wait for the water bill to pass.
“There is plenty that we can do — and have already begun doing,” he said. “We have design work to finish, we’ve begun initial testing for the CSS Georgia removal and we will continue to expedite property acquisition. We’re looking to see if there are other elements we can move ahead on,” Foltz said.
That’s not to say anyone is happy at the prospect of waiting to dig.
“I think what the White House is saying is that, because this is a federal construction project, we can’t deepen without Congressional approval,” Foltz said.
“It’s inconceivable to us that those within the system are effectively ignoring the bill that was passed by Congress and signed by the president little more than a month ago,” he said.
“Our entire delegation is galvanized in trying to get answers on that.”
While no one is clear yet on where that decision was made, Kingston said the logical place to start would be the president’s Office of Management and Budget.
“We have gone back and forth with them on every concern they had,” he said. “Every time we’d resolve one issue, another would surface.
“OMB is doing the president’s bidding and it’s becoming clear the president does not want this project to happen,
“Consider this,” Kingston said. “As closely as the Georgia leadership — from the governor to the Congressional delegation to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed — has worked with the administration on this project, don’t you think that, if this was really a legitimate concern, we would have gotten a heads-up to expect a problem?
“This was a bombshell. We are still flabbergasted.”
It’s also likely OMB tied the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hands at the highest level, Kignston said.
The Savannah Morning News has been asking for the Corps’ interpretation of the omnibus spending bill since mid-January to no avail.
On Jan. 22, Savannah District Corps spokeman Russell Wicke advised in an email that Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. was reviewing the language in the bill and he hoped to get detailed interpretive guidance shortly.
“What I will say is we at the Savannah District are ready to execute this project now,” Wicke’s email continued. “We are optimistic this omnibus appropriations legislation will allow us to move to the next step to formalize our agreement with the State and Georgia Ports Authority.”
Regardless of whose interpretation prompted the administration’s decision, there may not be much else Georgia officials can do at this point. Deal deflected a question Wednesday about whether he’d be willing to take the issue to court.
Foltz said the state officials and Georgia’s congressional delegation remained stunned that even Deal’s offer to start dredging without federal funding had been rejected.
“We’re talking about spending state money to help this nation recover,” Foltz said. “I think there is genuine amazement, disappointment and shock across all of the elected officials.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story