The U.S. Corps of Engineers will invest $14 billion to strengthen port and waterway supply chains, the White House said in a fact sheet on Wednesday.
As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Corps will use funds to increase climate resilience and improve ports and waterways, the White House said. The Infrastructure Law funds will be supplemented by other appropriations to help impacted states and Tribes recover from natural disasters and become more resilient to them in the future. The money will fund over 500 projects across 52 states and territories.
“The Army will work with community partners to leverage these historic Civil Works funds for investments that strengthen national supply chains through our commercial navigation mission, help communities impacted by climate change to increase their resiliency, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have too often been left behind,” Michael L. Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, said in a statement.
The investment includes $4 billion to expand capacity at key ports that would allow the passage of larger vessels and enhance the country’s ability to move goods. Some of that money will be spent to expand the capacity of one of the nation’s largest ports – the Port of Long Beach, as well as the country’s fastest-growing port, Newport Harbor, Va.
An additional $5.5 billion will be spent on protecting communities from climate change and protecting ecosystems, as well as the people and businesses that depend on those ecosystems – including a historic investment of $1.1 billion in the Florida Everglades, which provides drinking water for over 8 million Floridians and supports the state’s $90 billion tourism economy.