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Rep. Castor calls on EPA to reconsider cutting Tampa dredge funding

Posted Oct 14, 2011 by Christian M. Wade

Updated Oct 14, 2011 at 11:09 AM

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its decision to cut federal funding for a long-anticipated project to dredge miles of silt-clogged canals along Old Tampa Bay.

In a letter the EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Castor points out that the city has already spent more than $600,000 on engineering and designs for the project with the expectation that the regulatory agency would be providing a $1.3 million grant.

Tampa officials had been counting on the federal grant to help pay for dredging a 20-feet-wide by 3- to 5-feet-deep channel down a dozen private canals in the Sunset Park subdivision.

But in April, Congress cut $140 million in funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s State and Tribal Assistance program, and the federal agency informed the city last week that it would be unable to provide grant funding for the dredging project.

In the letter, Castor blames Republicans for killing the funding.

“I understand that recent EPA budget cuts are a result of the Republican-led congressional push to severely cut the EPA budget and that the agency is working with restrained dollars,” she writes. “Nevertheless, there are significant extenuating circumstances that require reinstatement of the grant or at least partial payment of thee share of the costs to date.”