Under the 2020 White House Budget proposal, the Port of Corpus Christi would receive $53,313,000 for a Ship Channel Improvement Project (CIP) under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
The channel project would increase the export volume of oil and natural gas, according to the proposal. This, in turn, could boost domestic energy production and benefit a port that exported $10.8 billion of crude oil to U.S. trading partners last year alone.
“We are pleased with the Administration’s recognition of the importance of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project by including it in the budget again this year,” Sean Strawbridge, CEO for the Port of Corpus Christi, said. “Investing in infrastructure, balancing trade, and achieving energy independence is front and center to the Administration’s agenda and clearly this project checks all those boxes.”
This makes the Port of Corpus Christi unique in being the only Texas port included in the proposed budget, and mark the second year of federal funding for their project. Last year, the same project received $13 million in the 2019 federal budget, $23 million in the 2019 USACE Work Plan and $59 million in the USACE 2020 Work Plan. The port has coupled those funds with $132 million of its own contributions.