Clyburn statement on the President signing the Water Infrastructure Improvements Act for the Nation (WIIN) Act, which includes the new Water Resources Development Act:
“The WIIN Act includes provisions that will expand the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency. This longstanding initiative I have championed currently provides almost 300 million gallons of clean drinking water annually in three rural counties, Calhoun, Orangeburg, and Dorchester, and has additional capacity used to recruit industry. The bill increases the cap on the Agency’s authorization to allow it access to be expanded to serve additional rural communities. This bill extends the agency’s authority to include Berkeley County, which will allow it to serve the site of the new Volvo Cars manufacturing facility and adjacent supplier facilities. The Volvo development is a $500 million investment which is expected to create 8,000 jobs within the next decade and contribute $4.8 billion annually to the South Carolina economy.”
“The WIIN Act also authorizes the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project, which will deepen the channel depth in the harbor to 52 feet and to 54 feet at the entrance. I have worked diligently with President Obama and the South Carolina Congressional Delegation to expedite the project’s feasibility study so that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief’s Report could be submitted to Congress in 2015, making the project eligible for inclusion in this legislation. The bill authorizes federal investment of over $231 million for the harbor deepening project. The Port of Charleston already has a $53 billion impact on our state’s economy, affecting 187,000 jobs. This deepening project will increase both, creating jobs and growing the economy of the state.”