Alabama officials are praising a new dredging program for the Gulf Coast as a possible answer in financing the long-sought deepening of the shipping channel through Mobile Bay.

The Alabama State Port Authority urges caution, however, explaining that nothing is certain or settled, at this point, and that Alabama will have to jostle with other states for any new dollars.

The Gulf Coast dredging program is an element of the federal government’s new $1.4 trillion spending package. In that package is $378 million for a “Regional Dredge Demonstration Program” for the Gulf of Mexico and the lower Mississippi River.

Judith Adams, a spokeswoman with the Port Authority, pointed out that there’s no direct “set-aside” in the package for Mobile’s harbor. “Rather, the bill creates an opportunity to compete for crucial dredging,” she said.

Rolled out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the new program is aimed at exploring dredging innovations that will improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Other Gulf Coast states will, presumably, want their own shares of the pie for their dredging projects.

In fact, back in September, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., issued a news release that signaling her high hopes for a key dredging and flood contract project in coastal Mississippi.

In the news release, Hyde-Smith’s office mentioned dredging of the lower Mississippi River channel as a way to prevent future openings of the Bonnet Carre Spillway on the Mississippi River in Louisiana.

Last summer, the Corps opened the spillway to relieve flood pressures on levees around New Orleans. That action sent a cascade of freshwater – filled with nutrient-rich agricultural runoff – flowing southeastward, eventually into the warm Mississippi Sound.

Beach closures along the Mississippi coast due to an algae bloom during the summer of 2019.Warren Kulo/Gulflive.com

Soon, a devastating algae bloom erupted in the Sound, forcing Mississippi to close its beaches, and sending coastal Mississippi’s fishing and seafood industries into tailspins.

Despite competing projects, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, praised the new dredge program and tied it immediately to the Port of Mobile project.

Shelby’s staff believes Mobile is “well-positioned” to get a major chunk of the funding. The Corps will determine how the program is administered, and what projects win funding.

In a news release, Shelby’s staff said the program “contains crucial funding to deepen and widen the Port of Mobile.” The Port Authority received federal authorization in September to proceed with an estimated $400 million dredging and widening of Mobile Bay.

“This project is not only of great importance to me, but it will allow for more goods to be shipped and sold from our state, extending benefits throughout Alabama while creating more economic opportunities,” Shelby said in a news release. “I am exceptionally proud that funding is included in this appropriations package, and I look forward to the immeasurable impact this project will have on our state once completed.”

The massive appropriations package passed out of the Senate on a 71-21 vote, and cleared the House on a vote of 297-120.

“That will be a huge economic development boon for the city of Mobile and for the entire Southeast Alabama to get Mobile Bay dredged to allow for bigger ships,” said U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Birmingham.

In the House, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, was among the four Alabama congressmen to vote against the overall package. Byrne, like other congressmen who opposed the spending package, called it “irresponsible spending” and included “unrelated measures” that were “dumped on me.” He called the entire package a “definition of the swamp.”

Byrne, though, said he was glad to see the new dredging program.

“The ongoing improvements at the Port of Mobile are key to our local and state economy,” he said in a statement. “I’m glad additional funding has been secured to allow dredging to move forward. This funding – coupled with the passage of the (U.S.-Mexico-Canada) trade agreement – will help fuel Alabama’s unprecedented economic boom.”

He, like Shelby, felt Mobile’s stood in a solid position to receive funding.

“Mobile is ideally positioned to get it,” he said. “I have no doubt that they will.”

The Port of Mobile project already has a local matching fund – a requirement from the Corps of Engineers – tacked to it thanks to the 10-cent-per-gallon state gas tax increase authorized by the Legislature in March during a special legislative session in Montgomery.

The gas tax increase, a first in Alabama since 1992, will supply $150 million for the channel work. The dedication was part of the overall Rebuild Alabama Act that was established as a program to fix the state’s backlog of road projects. The ship channel project is the only non-road project within the overall package.

“Earlier this year, our state made an investment in our infrastructure through the Rebuild Alabama Act, and that includes deepening and widening the Port,” said Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. "This additional federal help will enhance the Port of Mobile, and I commend Senator Shelby for his leadership in securing additional funds.”

Supporters of the channel enlargement say that the project will enable more cargo to move the port at reduced shipping costs. The project involves deepening the channel by 5 feet, to 50 feet in most locations through Mobile Bay.

The channel would be widened to provide room for two-way ship traffic. A turning basin would also be widened by 250 feet.

Adams said that original timelines for the project remain unchanged, even if the timing of federal funding allocations remain uncertain. As proposed, the construction is supposed to start by October 2020, and last anywhere between two to four years.

She said the project’s overall costs won’t be known until the engineering and design is completed sometime in the fall. Also uncertain is where the dredged material will be transported and disposed.

Adams and Lyons have said that Mobile’s project allows them to maintain a competitive edge against other deep-water ports in the U.S. as vessels continue to get larger and activity continues to rise.

Mobile faces fierce competition from deep water ports in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, S.C., as the need to accommodate larger ships grows after the opening of an expanded Panama Canal in 2016. The Georgia Ports Authority, for example, is deepening the Savannah Harbor and its shipping channel from 44 feet to 47 feet, with the project expected to be completed by early 2022.

In Mobile, the shipping channel serves as an international gateway to Alabama. The Port of Mobile ranks No. 10 in the U.S. for total cargo tonnage, according to the latest available data. It ranks No. 40 in value of imports and is No. 69 in value of exports – potent showings considering the rankings involve approximately 400 U.S. ports in all, both on the coastline and inland.

Mobile’s biggest imported product in 2018 was crude oil from petroleum and bituminous minerals, with airplane and helicopter parts placing a distant second. Mobile is home to Airbus’s largest North American assembly plant.