Water Resources: Georgia

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The $35 million in additional port deepening funds proposed by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has been approved by the state legislature and now awaits the governor's signature.

Georgia Governor Deal to Sign Budget with $35M More for Savannah Harbor Deepening

The $35 million in additional port deepening funds proposed by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has been approved by the state legislature and now awaits the governor's signature.

Along with previous funding, Georgia has now allocated $266 million, fulfilling the state's portion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP), which would deepen the harbor from 42 to 47 feet.

The new funding was part of Gov. Deal's FY2015 budget request, and was included in the final version of the state spending plan passed by the General Assembly on March 18.

"Lawmakers across Georgia recognize that improving the Savannah Harbor is critically important to the continued economic health of this state and region," Governor Deal said. "That unified vision is also evident among our delegation to Washington, which has worked tirelessly to secure the federal portion of the project costs. It is now long overdue for the federal government to fund their portion of this federal project to make U.S. manufactured products more competitive overseas."

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study has shown that SHEP will reduce shipping costs for private companies by $174 million a year and calculates a 5.5-to-1 benefit to cost ratio, meaning that for every dollar spent on the deepening, the nation will reap $5.50 in benefits. Approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, the project is anticipated to cost $652 million.

"The $266 million in state funding for SHEP is enough to allow significant progress on the project, including environmental improvements such as rerouting freshwater flows, and improvements to the outer harbor," said Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis Foltz. "Besides deepening the channel, the harbor expansion will also include general navigation improvements, such as wider channel turns and a larger turning basin."