Jones Lobbies Administration for New River Inlet Funding | Eastern North Carolina Now

    News Release:

Marine Corps Now on Record That It Needs Channel Dredged

    WASHINGTON, D.C.    This week Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) urged the Obama administration to allocate federal funding for dredging of New River Inlet. Rep. Jones' call comes after Onslow County leaders provided him with new information from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune stating that the Marine Corps needs New River Inlet dredged to its authorized depth in order to accommodate their operational needs.

    In a letter to White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan and several U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders, Congressman Jones pointed out that after the presidents' budget requests included an average of $663,000 a year for New River Inlet in fiscal years 2000 to 2011, President Obama's budget requests for the past five years included no money for the project. Congressman Jones also highlighted the fact that due to the ban on congressional earmarks, neither he nor North Carolina's U.S. senators have any ability to add money to the project through the legislative process. As a result, the funding (or lack thereof) specified for a project in the president's budget request is, more often than not, the amount that ultimately gets spent on the project in any given year.

    With that in mind, Congressman Jones called on administration officials to assure that, in both current and future fiscal years, federal funding will be allocated to New River Inlet at a level sufficient to meet the operational needs of the Marine Corps.

    "It is bad enough that limited federal funding for dredging is negatively affecting commerce on our nation's waterways and the jobs associated with it," said Congressman Jones. "But if the administration continues to neglect New River Inlet, it could impact the readiness of our Marines as well, and that is unacceptable."

    Maria Jeffrey
      Communications Director

    Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3)

     2333 Rayburn House Office Building
     Washington, DC 20515

     Maria.Jeffrey@mail.house.gov  •  (202) 225-3415