Port Applies for $39 Million Grant

The Port Authority of Port St. Joe has formally filed its application for a so-called TIGER grant to facilitate expansion and growth at one of Florida’s 14 deepwater ports.

The TIGER grants are part of the American Renewal and Recovery Act (ARRA).

TIGER stands for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery. The deadline for applying for a grant was Sept. 15.

The applications will be reviewed and grants awarded by a committee that includes Vice President Joe Biden in January or February of next year.

There is a pool of $1.5 billion the Port Authority will seek to dip its toes in to and the TIGER grant program specifically identifies ports as an item to be funded, said port executive director Tommy Pitts.

“We are going at it as if we will receive some of these funds,” Pitts said.

The Port of Port St. Joe would use the funds for bulkhead construction, dredging and minimal uplands improvements as part of the development of a deepwater green energy seaport and rail connector, Pitts said.

The Port Authority has had preliminary talks with officials at the Genessee & Wyoming Railroad concerning interest in connecting rail lines from the expanded port to a proposed green energy park further up the Intracoastal Canal, near the old Material Transfer Industries site.

That is where the Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center, which would burn wood, forest residue and fast-growing grasses for electricity, would be located and operational as soon as summer of 2011.

Pitts said Genessee & Wyoming officials have signaled their interest.

The Port Authority is seeking a TIGER grant of $39.1 million. The grant does not require a local match and the application is effectively a narrative of the history of the port, the present as well as the future hopes for a port in Gulf County, the last of Florida’s deepwater ports to be fully developed.

“We have a unique and exciting story to tell,” said Allen Cox, chairman of the Port Authority, during a recent Port Authority meeting as the application was being crafted. “This is really exciting.

“This is our one best shot to come up with this kind of money at one time.”

Part of that story, Cox said, is the regional impact an operational Port of Port St. Joe could have.

“Our opportunity is far greater than just our county,” Cox said. “(The Florida Department of Transportation) looks at us as a regional asset. Our impact is potentially far greater than we’ve appreciated.”

In fact, judging by the number of state, federal and local individuals and entities that have thrown their weight behind the application, the TIGER grant is clearly seen a catalyst for all of Northwest Florida.

Sen. Bill Nelson, Congressman Allen Boyd, the DOT, Opportunity Florida, Florida’s Great Northwest, the governor’s office, Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Marti Coley as well as the county commissions of Gulf, Jackson, Liberty, Calhoun and Gadsden counties, the Port St. Joe city commission, the Gulf County School Board and Chamber of Commerce are just a sampling of those lending support to the application.

The Port of Panama City is also supportive of the application.

Further, Boyd has secured a federal appropriation of $500,000 for dredging of the federal shipping channel.

That is a key to securing any TIGER grant funds as it will be crucial for the Port of Port St. Joe to have access to the federally-subscribed shipping channel as a way of expanding the port’s capabilities.

That would be accomplished by acquiring roughly 23 acres of state submerged land immediately west of the so-called Parcel A, located at the north end of the old paper mill site, which the Port Authority has leased for the next five decades to facilitate a bulkhead extending beyond the current mill site bulkhead.

Acquiring those additional acres would bring the bulkhead less than 1,500 hundred feet from the shipping channel and provide a turning area and docking space to accommodate as many as three ocean-going vessels, cargo and the like, at a time, the Port Authority’s ultimate goal.

Critical to securing state approval of securing the submerged lands rests with The St. Joe Company, which has offered to provide other local submerged lands the company owns, including lands near the St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve, in a swap for the state land.

The Port Authority would also need approval from the DEP and the Florida Cabinet for the land swap.

“It is extremely important to get DEP approval for the footprint we are seeking” with the expansion from the old mill site bulkhead, Pitts said, adding that the Port Authority could have the proper permitting in hand by the time the TIGER grants are awarded.

The DEP, after a July meeting with Port Authority officials, has expressed support for the swap, St. Joe has signed off on the lands to swap and the swap will be brought before the entire Cabinet for a vote in December, Pitts said, adding that Cabinet officers have expressed initial support for the swap.

In the “bottom line” section of the application, the outlines of what the Port Authority hopes will be a future fueled by the TIGER grant is mapped out.

“To conclude, this port infrastructure investment project:

• Is uniquely suited to the economy of the region and is perhaps the only type of project that could have such a long-term beneficial effect on regional economic competitiveness;
• Will provide a gateway and capacity for international trade through the Gulf of Mexico to increase our national economic competitiveness;
• Will bring much needed immediate construction employment and economic benefit to an Economically Distressed Area, to be followed by long-term operational employment and benefits;
• Will serve as the linchpin for energy-related initiatives being pursued throughout the region, which will provide additional long-term regional economic stimulus;
• Will provide a strong return on investment, mirroring the $6.90 in economic activity for every $1 invested in seaport projects;
• Has been vetted through a lengthy public planning process and has the support of the local community and public and private sector stakeholders at the local, regional and state levels.”