[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 20, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H4486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     DEEPENING THE PORT OF SAVANNAH

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, today, when the House passes the Water 
Resources Reform and Development Act, included in it will be the 
largest infrastructure project in the history of Georgia. Deepening the 
Savannah River from 42 to 47 feet will open up our port to lots of 
different countries and lots of different kinds of vessels from all 
over the world. 352,000 jobs are related to the Port of Savannah. The 
cost-benefit ratio is a dollar spent, five-and-a-half dollar return.
  It has been studied by four different Federal agencies and signed off 
by four Federal agencies. In fact, there were 64 individual studies on 
environmental impact, historic impact, traffic impact, and nearly just 
about everything else under the sun.
  It is a project that Georgia companies will greatly benefit from, as 
will all the Southeast, because 62 percent of what the port does is 
export goods and services. So it opens up the door to all kinds of new 
markets.
  I have to thank the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on a 
bipartisan basis for all that they have done and thank Mr. Shuster for 
coming to Savannah three different times to look at this project 
personally.
  We are very excited about this. Let's pass this bill today. Let's get 
the Senate to pass it. Let's get the House and the Senate moving, and 
let's get Georgians and the whole Southeast back to work.

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