Last week, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) helped secure a $454,436 grant through the Department of Transportation’s United States Marine Highway Program to support Columbia River barge services on Marine Highway 84 (M-84).
With the funding, Tidewater Barge Lines will acquire a low emissions container handler to help divert an estimated 3,800 containers of municipal solid waste from highways to M-84. The efforts would help mitigate growing highway and rail congestion between Vancouver and Boardman, Oregon. In August, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez wrote to the Department of Transportation supporting the project, according to a news release.
“Moving solid waste efficiently and affordably to an appropriate disposal site upriver isn’t the sexiest topic or something most folks think about each day, but it’s an essential service our communities rely on,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a news release. “By bringing this funding home for a new container handler, we’re supporting the nuts and bolts of local maritime services and equipping the hardworking heroes at our ports and on the water.”
An interactive map of community investments supported by Gluesenkamp Perez can be found at gluesenkampperez.house.gov/invest.
