Port Whine
If it smells like pork and looks like pork, then there’s no reason for it, even if it’s our pork.
Backers of the billion-dollar N.C. International Port project suffered a setback last year when the federal government virtually froze the budget of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, except for projects like the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
But Dole, a Republican, said she anticipated the preliminary study would get the needed $200,000 in the next go round. The study is an early, but crucial, step in the creation of a 600-acre port that would dwarf the Port of Wilmington 20 miles up the river, ideally allowing North Carolina to compete with larger ports such as Savannah and Charleston.
“It’ll get in,” she said. “I predict it’ll get in.”
The N.C. State Ports Authority paid about $30 million for the swath of land last year. Even if everything goes according to plan, completion of the project would take more than a decade.
So, the state put $30 million towards a new port last year, but this year we’re begging the feds for a measly 200K? I smell something fishy.
If a new port is that important to the state, then the state should pay for the bloody thing, not go cap in hand to the Federal government for what amounts to pocket change.
And Liddy Dole should be ashamed to carry the cap.