[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16895]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 DREDGING OF SABINE-NECHES RIVERWAY CRITICAL FOR COMMERCE AND MILITARY

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the Sabine-Neches Riverway between Texas and 
Louisiana is the main shipping channel for two Texas ports in Beaumont 
and Port Arthur. These are energy ports and military displacement 
ports.
  One-third of the military cargo going to and from Iraq and 
Afghanistan goes through this channel. The port of Beaumont has already 
loaded or unloaded more pieces of military cargo than any other 
commercial port in the United States. The port also is lined with 
numerous petrochemical plants and refineries. Shipments of oil, jet 
fuel, and liquified natural gas enter the United States through this 
channel. Eleven percent of the Nation's gasoline goes through this 
port.
  But there is a problem. The Corps of Engineers does not have enough 
money to keep the channel dredged, so silt is creeping into the 
channel, ships are now having to travel the riverway without being 
fully loaded or they will drag bottom. To keep from dragging bottom, 
ships are now being loaded with one foot less amount of energy or fuel. 
One foot difference costs Americans $30 million a year in gasoline 
prices, or 3 cents a gallon more.
  The channel must be dredged or our energy situation will suffer and 
the consumer will pay more for gasoline. The channel must be dredged 
for strategic reasons so that we can get our troops the military 
equipment they deserve.
  Congress just authorized $23 billion of foreign aid. Maybe the 
Sabine-Neches Riverway Authority needs to apply for this foreign aid to 
get the more than $13 million it needs to maintain this American 
channel. Mr. Speaker, this ought not to be.

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