Waterway News From D.C.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently announced the designation of 848 new miles of navigable waterways and approval of 14 new sponsors for the U.S. Marine Highway Program (USMHP). According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), the entire network now covers 27,139 miles across 35 designated routes.

DOT singled out as a key highlight of the expansion the strengthening of the M-90 route, which runs 2,345 miles through the Great Lakes, connecting Minnesota to New York.

DOT said seven new sponsors joined M-90, including the state transportation departments of Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and New York, as well as the Ports of Indiana and the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority.

“Our nation’s many rivers and inland ports are crucial resources to moving great American products to markets across the country and around the world,” Duffy said. “Expanding the Marine Highway Program will strengthen the Great Lakes economy and other regional communities.”

Newly designated routes and their new sponsors include M-23 (20 miles), Big Sandy River, co-sponsored by Kentucky and West Virginia DOTs; M-24 (382 miles), Cumberland River, co-sponsored by Kentucky and Tennessee DOTs; M-165 (109 miles), Green River, sponsored by Kentucky Transportation Cabinet; M-167 (337 miles), Ouachita River, co-sponsored by Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development and Arkansas Waterways Commission.

House Bill

A key House committee advanced a bill authorizing the U.S. Coast Guard’s critical missions to safeguard the nation’s borders, ensure maritime safety and facilitate maritime commerce through 2029.

“Members of the Coast Guard often go above and beyond the call of duty, a fact clearly demonstrated again during the response to the recent flooding in Texas where Petty Officer Scott Ruskan and the Rescue 6553 air crew team helped save over 165 lives,” said Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the panel’s ranking member, described the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 as a “welcome return to this committee’s bipartisan work.”

Passed by a 60-0 vote, H.R. 4275 now goes to the House floor for a vote.

Key provisions would establish a secretary of the Coast Guard, which is to help create greater parity with the other armed services, provide stronger protections against sexual assault and harassment, ensure a robust U.S. shipbuilding industry and amend requirements for credentials to help increase the pool of qualified U.S. merchant mariners.

The Senate passed S. 524, its Coast Guard authorization bill, by unanimous consent in March.

BUILD Grants

Waterways projects totaling $35 million were among 30 projects sharing awards totaling $488 million from the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program.

“Under President Trump, America is building again,” Duffy said.

Of the funding for waterways projects, $25 million went to the Bristol Port Facility in Pennsylvania for a new roughly 1,100-foot dock, modernization of offloading equipment, dredging of approximately 70,000 cubic yards of material and integration of upgraded rail systems.

Two other maritime projects included in the announcements are located in Alaska.

Those projects include a dock rebuilding planning project for the Chilkoot Indian Association for $2.8 million and a port barge ramp project for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough for $7.8 million.

Future Of FEMA

Even as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was responding to devastating flash floods in central Texas, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem repeated her call for the agency to be eliminated as it exists currently.

Just days later, however, Noem used different wording and tone concerning FEMA’s future after it received positive reviews for its response to the tragedy in Texas.

She specifically answered “no” when pressed during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on whether the president will move to eradicate FEMA.

“I think the president recognizes that FEMA should not exist the way that it always has been,” Noem said. “It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response.”

She said Trump wants FEMA to be remade in how it deploys and supports states’ response to disasters.

AAPA Advocacy

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) helped lead more than two dozen organizations in commending the reintroduction of bipartisan legislation to protect ports from government overreach by creating a fair funding source for inspection facilities.

Sponsored by Reps. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), the CBP Securing Ports and America’s Commerce and Economy (SPACE) Act is to address overreach by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and establish a “fair, transparent and sustainable funding source for key trade and travel security partners.”

“CBP Officers’ work is crucial to the safety, health and vitality of America’s ports, and we sincerely thank them,” AAPA President and CEO Cary Davis said. “However, the costs of government inspection operations are historically and constitutionally a federal government responsibility.”

AAPA pointed out the legislation would set up the funding mechanism via existing user fees already collected.

FMC Update

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) published an update to its official case law reporter that includes decisions and orders that may be legally significant or establish legal precedent.

“Decisions of the Federal Maritime Commission, Second Series” is available on the agency’s website at FMC.gov.

“The volume now incorporates the period of January 2024 through December 2024,” FMC stated.

For the most current status and disposition of any proceeding, the docket activity logs are updated daily and can be found at www2.fmc.gov/readingroom.