June 16, 2020

Honorable Peter A. DeFazio
Chairman
House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC, 20515

Honorable Sam Graves
Ranking Member
House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC, 20515

Honorable Grace F. Napolitano
Chair
Water Resources and Environment
Subcommittee
House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee
1610 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Honorable Bruce Westerman
Ranking Member
Water Resources and Environment
Subcommittee
House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee
209 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members,
We write on behalf of our constituents who work and do business on and around the Delaware
River’s ports. Because of your committee’s leadership, our states have a decades long
partnership with the Federal government which has led to job and business growth in our region.
Those jobs and businesses are in jeopardy due to new Senate legislation.
The most important Federal investment in the Delaware River maritime industry has been the
engagement of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in deepening the Delaware River’s
main channel to 45 feet. This deepening allows today’s ships, such as those that navigate the
Panama Canal, to load and off load at ports in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The
project, which was authorized in the Water Resources Development Act, has been undertaken
with Pennsylvania’s sponsorship and significant financial participation. The deepening of the
Delaware River underwent extensive and appropriate review for its viability, and financial and
environmental impacts. Most importantly, the project was required to demonstrate its impact to
the national economy prior to the approval of Federal participation and funding. That process is
vital to protect national taxpayer funds and is consistent with long-standing procedures for
Federal participation in any state’s dredging projects.
Moreover, there are longstanding requirements which require ports to pay for ongoing
maintenance dredging and to identify long term sites in which to dispose of dredged materials,
and which reserve Federal disposal sites for materials dredged from Federal projects. Port
operators in our states were required to submit plans and enter into contracts for their
maintenance materials and are disposing of that material at considerable expense in private
disposal sites.

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 As you may know, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) recently passed
the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (S. 3591), which included a number of
provisions aimed at supporting the expansion of the Port of Wilmington and creating a new
facility at Edgemoor, DE. The state entered into a contract with a foreign-owned entity to
operate both facilities. These provisions in the Senate bill have the effect of overturning decades
old regulations and granting an unprecedented favorable competitive advantage to this foreign
operator over existing US-owned and operated facilities in the region. If the Senate bill
amendments become law, the new facilities would effectively be federally funded without
undergoing the normal review processes. They would not be required to undergo the cost of
future maintenance of their project. They would be relieved of the need to plan for and safely
dispose of their maintenance materials. And they would enter the regional maritime market with
significant cost and time savings over every other port.
We believe that the effect of these provisions was not given full consideration in EPW and ask
that your committee reject including them in your Water Resources Development Act bill.
Moreover, we respectfully request that you specifically deny the waiver of longstanding USACE
regulations aimed at protecting our nation’s environment and ensuring proper spending of
taxpayer funds.
The bipartisan House delegation on both sides of the Delaware River, joined by other members
of your committee and a Pennsylvania appropriator, previously sent you a letter opposing these
proposals. We are attaching a copy of that letter hereto for you reference. We strongly request
your support in this matter because US workers and entities should not be jeopardized by foreign
competitors at taxpayer expense, and because Federal legislation should require that all similarly
situated organizations compete under the same rules. Thank you for your kind consideration of
the foregoing.
Sincerely,

Tom Wolf
Governor
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Phil Murphy
Governor
State of New Jersey