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2009 SESSION

090692584
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 712
Offered January 14, 2009
Prefiled January 14, 2009
Memorializing the Congress of the United States to appropriate its share of funds to construct the Craney Island Eastward Expansion Project.
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Patron-- Jones
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, the Craney Island Eastward Expansion Project (the "Project") was authorized by the Congress of the United States in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, which included a federal cost share of 50 percent of the cost of the construction of the dikes and levies totaled at $712 million; and

WHEREAS, the Project will create another 600-acre "cell" on the eastern side of the existing Craney Island Dredge Management Site to accommodate additional dredge material, creating increased capacity for the placement of dredge material and a new marine terminal for the Virginia Port Authority; and

WHEREAS, the Project has an approved Environmental Impact Statement; and

WHEREAS, the Joint Permit Application has been submitted to the Department of Environmental Quality and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission by the Virginia Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District Office; and

WHEREAS, the Project is currently in the design phase, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2009; and

WHEREAS, the Project will take two years to build the dikes and levies, two years to fill, and four years to construct the marine terminal; and

WHEREAS, the marine terminal portion of the project will be constructed in phases as needed to accommodate the growth in international trade moving through the Port of Virginia, with the first phase expected to be needed and completed in 2017, and the subsequent phases to be added when growth demand requires additional capacity; and

WHEREAS, the Project has an environmental mitigation plan that includes sediment remediation, wetlands restoration, and oyster reef development with a capital expense of $50 million; and

WHEREAS, the Project will incorporate the most modern technology in the new marine terminals to increase the throughput capacity of the facility; and

WHEREAS, the Project, once completed, will have the ability to increase the capacity of the Port of Virginia by 100 percent, creating the ability to handle 10 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and providing the Port of Virginia the potential to become the dominant port on the East Coast; and

WHEREAS, keeping this project on time and on schedule is critical for the Port of Virginia to be able to accommodate the growth in international trade—the completion of the Heartland Corridor in 2010 will provide greater double-stack rail access to the Midwest and the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2015 will allow larger ships with greater cargo capacity to move through the canal from Asia to the East Coast of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Port of Virginia with its 50-foot channels allows the larger ships to call at the port when they begin to make direct vessel calls to the United States; and

WHEREAS, at the completion of the Craney Island Eastward Expansion it will generate 54,000 jobs throughout the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Congress of the United States be urged to appropriate its share of funds to construct the Craney Island Eastward Expansion Project. The Virginia General Assembly fully supports and encourages every effort at the local, state, and federal levels to expedite the ultimate completion of the Craney Island Eastward Expansion Project as soon as possible and every effort to expedite the construction of the dikes and levies for this project.

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.