Funding
The Columbia River Channel Deepening Project will provide national transportation and trade improvements, as well as regional and statewide benefits.

Funding will come from several sources: federal appropriations; the governments of Oregon and Washington State; and local sponsoring ports including Portland and St. Helens, Ore., and Kalama, Longview, Vancouver and Woodland, Wash. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will construct and manage the project, which encompasses construction of the navigation channel and ecosystem restoration on the Columbia River.

The proposed funding will be divided as follows:

Total Columbia River construction cost: $150.5 million (adjusted cost to include inflation)

By federal law, the local sponsors are obligated to provide 25 percent of the cost of the general navigation features of the project (the actual channel deepening work) and 35 percent of the cost of the ecosystem restoration features. The federal government will pick up the balance of these construction costs. In addition, other project costs, such as the acquisition of land for dredged material disposal and mitigation sites, will be funded 100 percent by the local sponsors. The states of Oregon and Washington have each appropriated $27.7 million to fund their share.

To date, Congress has appropriated $34 million: $15 million for FY 2006; $9 million for FY 2005; $3.5 million for FY 2004; $2 million for FY 2003; $4.5 million for 2001. Keep in mind, not all funds appropriated from FY 2001-2004 were used for construction – funding was spent on necessary environmental studies and the monitoring program. Currently, $15 million is included in the President’s budget request for FY 2007.