WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced Senate passage of the fiscal year 2010 Energy and Water Development Conference Report. The bill includes funding for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in Maryland, including more than $53 million for the Port of Baltimore. It now heads to the President to be signed into law.

“This bill is a federal investment in the lives and livelihoods that depend on Maryland’s waterways. These projects will help ensure that freight carriers and cruise ships can safely navigate Baltimore’s channels so the Port of Baltimore can continue to serve as an important economic engine that creates and sustains jobs in Maryland,” Senator Mikulski said. “I will continue to make the Port of Baltimore and Maryland’s waterways a priority in the federal checkbook.”

The Port of Baltimore is a major economic engine for Maryland and America, supporting more than 50,000 jobs in Maryland, including more than 16,500 direct jobs. Among U.S. ports, Baltimore receives the top rank for handling noncontainerized roll on/roll off cargo, trucks, imported forest products gypsum, sugar and iron ore. It ranks 12th in the nation in total value of foreign cargo handled. It also is the largest automobile exporter in the country, the second largest in total automobile tonnage, and the 13th largest in foreign cargo tonnage. The Port’s activities support approximately $2 billion in business revenue, $3.6 billion in personal wages and salaries, and $388 million in state, county and municipal taxes annually.

Funding for the Port includes:

• $17.5 million for annual maintenance dredging of the Baltimore Harbor and its shipping channels.

• $26.98 million for operation and maintenance dredging of the C&D Canal and approach channels. The C&D Canal currently carries 40 percent of all ship traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore. It provides a shortcut for vessels traveling between Baltimore and points north.

• $8 million for the continuation of the Poplar Island environmental restoration project, which is taking clean dredged materials from the shipping lanes leading to the Port of Baltimore and using it to stabilize the shoreline, create habitat areas and restore the wetlands of one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most valuable island ecosystems in Talbot County.

• $314,000 for the Mid Chesapeake Bay Island Study, which is examining the potential beneficial use of placing clean dredged material from the Port of Baltimore’s shipping channels to restore the habitat and protect the shoreline of James and Barren Islands in Dorchester County.