U.S. allocates $14 billion to expand ports, shore up waterways

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will fund $14 billion in projects to improve the country’s ports and waterways in an effort to increase climate resilience, improve drinking water sources and bolster the U.S. supply chain.

The funds, for fiscal year 2022, target more than 500 projects in 52 states and territories, including Florida’s Everglades and the Port of Long Beach in California, the White House said in a statement.

“These key projects will strengthen the nation’s supply chain, provide significant new economic opportunities nationwide, and bolster our defenses against climate change,” it said.

The allocation stems from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, passed into law last year with bipartisan support from Congress and one of the Democrat’s key domestic agenda items.

Among the projects spearheaded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is $1.1 billion to preserve the Everglades in south Florida, which provides drinking water for more than 8 million people in the state, the administration said.

The Corps will also direct $1.7 billion to reduce inland flood risk via 15 projects and $645 million to reduce coastal flood risk through another 15 projects across the country including in costal Louisiana, Norfolk, Virginia, and Stockton, California.

Forty percent of the funding will be directed to climate and clean energy projects for disadvantaged communities, the administration added.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Jonathan Oatis)