Bond stops to announce funds for areas ports

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Regional port authority leaders learned this week that Congress secured $930,000 for needed maintenance in ports along the Mississippi River.

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond made a brief stop at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority Saturday to make the federal funding announcement to representatives of New Madrid County, Southeast Missouri and Pemiscot County port authorities.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority in Scott City will see the lion's share of $400,000, New Madrid County will receive $240,000 and Pemiscot County, $290,000.

"Financially, the local-federal partnership is crucial," said Dan Overbey, executive director of Southeast Missouri Regional Port authority. "The cost of one dredging is roughly equal to the entire year's operating budget of our port authority."

Bond said people living on the coasts don't realize how dependent interior communities are on inland ports. He said more than 3,000 jobs in area counties are waterway-related.

The senator said since the money for dredging of inland river shallow-draft harbors wasn't originally in President Bush's budget, members of the Appropriations Committee were able to secure the funding.

The money ensures that the Corps of Engineers will continue to perform necessary maintenance.

Dredging is provided under a local cooperation agreement signed by the SEMO Port and the Corps of Engineers when the harbor was built. Local taxpayers paid part of the harbor's $5 million construction cost with a quarter-cent sales tax from 1986 to 1990.

That dredging relies on federal funds.

"Water transportation is efficient, it helps keep our air clean, it reduces highway congestion and keeps the quality of service high and costs low for our shippers who are competing in the international marketplace," said Bond.