Ag News
House Appropriations Committee approves SHEP funding
Posted on May 30, 2018 at 0:00 AM
On May 16 the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved $49 million for continued construction on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP), meeting the amount requested by President Donald Trump in his FY 2019 budget.
“The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project is one of the top economic development priorities for the state of Georgia,” said committee member Rep. Tom Graves (R-Georgia). “Once completed, it will provide security for the 21,000 American businesses that rely on the Port of Savannah and bring $174 million in annual net benefits to the United States. The critical funding in this bill will help ensure the expansion project stays on schedule.”
The SHEP funding is part of the FY 2019 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, which was approved by a 29-20 committee vote.
The project is deepening the inner harbor shipping channel by five feet to 47 feet and the out channel to 49 feet. The outer harbor deepening was completed in February, according to the Georgia Ports Authority. SHEP will allow the Port of Savannah to accommodate larger vessels coming through the Panama Canal, which began handling larger ships after its expansion was completed in 2016.
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