By Matt Tomsic
mtomsic@scbiznews.com
Published June 20, 2011

With a flick of their pens today, officials with the S.C. State Ports Authority and Army Corps of Engineers officially ended uncertainty about the deepening of Charleston Harbor.

Ports CEO Jim Newsome and Lt. Col. Jason Kirk signed the cost-sharing agreement for a feasibility study that will analyze the deepening Charleston Harbor beyond 45 feet. The state and federal government both pay half of the study’s cost.

U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint and state Sen. Larry Grooms spoke during the signing. U.S. Reps. Tim Scott and Jim Clyburn were scheduled to speak, but a wreck on Interstate 26 delayed them.

Newsome said the deepening project is vital to the state’s port because containerships are getting larger, and the expansion of the Panama Canal will open the East Coast to those larger ships. The expansion is projected to be finished in 2014.

“Deep water is increasingly important,” Newsome said.

Kirk, the commander of the corps’ Charleston District, said the signing is an important milestone for the port and the corps, which has maintained Charleston Harbor for more than 120 years.

The agreement allows the corps to study the deepening’s environmental impacts on the harbor and its economic benefits to the country.

After finishing the study, the corps will recommend how deep to dredge the harbor.

Graham and DeMint said historically, many residents didn’t know much about the Port of Charleston and its importance to the state of South Carolina.

“Now, just about everybody in South Carolina knows that this port is vital to our economic future,” DeMint said.

The two senators also said they would continue to find funding for the port as it moves through the deepening project’s phases.

“We will do everything within our power to ensure the federal government meets her obligation to help the state of South Carolina deepen this port,” Graham said.

DeMint said the corps has been freed up to look at national priorities and that Charleston is at the top of the list.

Grooms said the signing secures the port’s future as vessels continue getting bigger.

“We’ve got a ticket; it is here; it is signed; it is punched,” Grooms said.

Feasibility studies can take between two and eight years depending on the study’s complexity and the corps’ ability to get funding for the project.