{"id":6337,"date":"2021-12-03T10:25:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T15:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/chang\/?p=6337"},"modified":"2021-12-03T10:25:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T15:25:28","slug":"senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LANSING, Mich. (Dec. 3, 2021) \u2014 Sens.&nbsp;<strong>Stephanie Chang<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;<strong>Wayne Schmidt<\/strong>&nbsp;(R-Traverse City), and&nbsp;<strong>Dale Zorn<\/strong>&nbsp;(R-Ida) today announced a bill package that would boost Michigan\u2019s maritime industry and ensure it remains competitive with other Great Lakes states.<br \/><br \/>The bills are a result of months of work with stakeholders in the maritime industry, as well as environmental and community groups, to provide critical support and guidance for Michigan\u2019s ports. Sen. Chang\u2019s bills, Senate Bills&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">744<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0746\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">746<\/a>, respectively, would create a grant assistance program for port infrastructure projects, and require each port to develop a five-year environmental impact transparency plan to mitigate adverse impacts and protect Michigan\u2019s natural resources.<br \/><br \/>\u201cI serve much of the Detroit Riverfront and know that Michigan\u2019s location near the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway System is a competitive advantage in the manufacturing and agricultural industries. We can better utilize this strength to boost our local economies while simultaneously protecting our waterways and the neighborhoods closest to our ports,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Chang<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cWe can create jobs and economic opportunity through a strengthened maritime industry while also protecting this precious resource our residents enjoy for recreation and living.\u201d<br \/><br \/>In 2017,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greatlakes-seaway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/eco_impact_full.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a report from Martin Associates in Pennsylvania<\/a>&nbsp;found that 59.2 million tons of goods were moved through Michigan\u2019s waterways, valued at $3.23 billion. The economic activity generated by commercial ports was $4.16 million, supporting 25,910 jobs and raising $763 million in federal, state, and local tax revenue. To provide more support to this thriving industry, Sen. Schmidt introduced&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0743\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 743<\/a>, which creates a great lakes maritime office within the Michigan Department of Transportation.<br \/><br \/>\u201cMichigan ports are essential to our state\u2019s economy and this package of bills underlines their importance,\u201d said&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Schmidt<\/strong>, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation. \u201cMy bill would create a Great Lakes maritime office within the Michigan Department of Transportation. Doing so would show that we understand and value the contribution that ports and the maritime industry provide to our economy.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Vessels on the Great Lakes are fuel and cargo efficient, so encouraging a thriving port industry will not only benefit our economy but also could have some regional environmental benefits, according to an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greatlakes-seaway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Impacts-Comparison-ExSum.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">environmental and social impact study by the Canadian Research and Traffic Group<\/a>. By increasing port capacity and improving infrastructure, Michigan can further protect its precious natural resources and create more jobs in our communities. At the same time, Senator Chang recognizes that while regional improvements to the environment could be the result of increased maritime activity, there are potential localized impacts on neighborhoods located in close proximity to ports, so environmental impact transparency plans are a crucial component of the bill package.<br \/><br \/>Sen. Zorn\u2019s bill,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0745\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 745<\/a>, would allow port authorities to use revenue bonds for transportation related improvements and further harness the efficiency of vessels in our Great Lakes.<br \/><br \/>\u201cThis legislation is about standing up for Michigan jobs and making sure our ports, like the port of Monroe, have the ability to compete with other U.S. ports for cargo,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Zorn<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cMy bill would enable our ports to use revenue bonds to fund transportation-related projects which would allow ports to handle more cargo, such as shipping containers. Allowing more ships to use our ports would help reduce costs for Michigan businesses and consumers and provide more high-wage jobs for Michigan workers.\u201d<br \/><br \/>\u201cAt a time when our nation is faced with unprecedented transportation challenges, Senators Chang, Schmidt, and Zorn have taken the lead to bolster the marine transportation system that has been the foundation of Michigan\u2019s economy for over a century,\u201d said Port of Monroe Director&nbsp;<strong>Paul C. LaMarre III<\/strong>. \u201cThis legislation will strengthen Michigan ports, sustain our supply chain, and ensure that our identity as the \u2018Great Lakes State\u2019 is as strong as the infrastructure that supports it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING, Mich. (Dec. 3, 2021) \u2014 Sens.&nbsp;Stephanie Chang&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;Wayne Schmidt&nbsp;(R-Traverse City), and&nbsp;Dale Zorn&nbsp;(R-Ida) today announced a bill package that would boost Michigan\u2019s maritime industry and ensure it remains competitive with other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry - Senator Stephanie Chang<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LANSING, Mich. (Dec. 3, 2021) \u2014 Sens.&nbsp;Stephanie Chang&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;Wayne Schmidt&nbsp;(R-Traverse City), and&nbsp;Dale Zorn&nbsp;(R-Ida) today announced a bill package that would boost Michigan\u2019s maritime industry and ensure it remains competitive with other [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Senator Stephanie Chang\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-03T15:25:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-03T15:25:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\"},\"wordCount\":662,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Press release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\",\"name\":\"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry - Senator Stephanie Chang\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-03T15:25:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/\",\"name\":\"Senator Stephanie Chang\",\"description\":\"Michigan Senate Democrats\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry - Senator Stephanie Chang","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2021\/12\/03\/senators-announce-port-infrastructure-improvement-legislation-to-support-maritime-industry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Senators Announce Port Infrastructure Improvement Legislation to Support Maritime Industry","og_description":"LANSING, Mich. 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