Charles G. Kopp, Esq., Chairman of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA), welcomed Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and about a dozen federal, state, and local legislators to the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, PRPA’s largest cargo facility on August 7th to laud recent progress of the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project, and to keep momentum on the project moving forward. The project is currently deepening the Port of Philadelphia’s main shipping channel from 40 to 45 feet, which will allow larger and more modern vessels to take on and deliver cargo not only at PRPA facilities at the Port of Philadelphia, but also public and private facilities in southern New Jersey and Delaware. But despite the project being a true regional asset, the August 7 celebration emphasized how good the project will be for the Port of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Noting the shared state and federal commitment to the project, PA state legislators thanked the federal legislators in attendance for delivering federal dollars to the project, and the federal legislators thanked Governor Corbett for jumpstarting the project with initial state dollars. On a dais set up next to the busy Delaware River shipping channel were the following government officials: Governor Corbett, Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley, U.S. Senator Bob Casey, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, PA State Senator Larry Farnese, PA State Reps. Bill Adolph, Bill Keller and John Taylor, Philadelphia Deputy Mayor and PRPA board member Rina Cutler, Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, and Philadelphia City Councilmen Mark Squilla, Bobby Henon, and David Oh. Also joining Chairman Kopp and the officials onstage were PRPA Executive Director James T. McDermott, Jr. and PRPA board members Boise Butler, Capt. James Roche, and John Skoutelas. During the course of the event, structured as both a news conference and a celebratory rally, Chairman Kopp and the legislators in attendance outlined both the benefits of the channel-deepening project and recent developments surrounding it. These included the following: • A contract has been awarded for the next section or “reach” of the project: Reach “A”, an 11-mile stretch of the channel located in the vicinity of the Philadelphia International Airport and the Walt Whitman Bridge, is expected to be deepened beginning this September; shortly thereafter, Reach “D”, a 14-mile stretch of the channel in Delaware, is expected to be deepened beginning this December. Already, reaches “C” (12 miles) and “B” (4 miles), both in Delaware, have already been deepened. • Current funding for the project currently stands at $16.7 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and $29.7 million from President Obama’s FY13 Budget, assuring the viability of the project for the immediate future. “But we can’t become complacent,” said Senator Casey in a thought frequently echoed by the other legislators. “We have to keep fighting for dollars until this project is complete.” $40 million has already been spent by Pennsylvania and the $50 million by the Army Corps. The entire project will cost about $311 million. • Governor Corbett emphasized the projected economic impact of a deeper shipping channel, saying that increased cargo activity resulting from a deeper channel will deliver 8,000 to 12,000 new direct jobs at the Port of Philadelphia and up to 38,000 indirect jobs throughout the region. • The channel deepening will coincide with the current expansion of the Panama Canal, to be completed in 2015. A wider, deeper Panama Canal will deliver more ships and bigger ships, especially from Asia, to the US East Coast, and a deeper Delaware River will allow the Philadelphia regional ports to handle them. Other East Coast ports are already deepening their channels to prepare for these vessels. Congressman Bob Brady reminded the assembled crowd of the long history of the project, saying that he voted for its authorization back in 1998. He also pointed across the river to New Jers