News Release
FOR RELEASE - August 31, 2011
Contact: Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org
(703) 706-4714
American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org
In a letter today to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle asked committee members to fully consider the benefits of focusing scarce federal resources where they will have the greatest impact, including in and around America’s seaports.
“(America’s ports) facilitate trade and commerce, create jobs, help secure our borders, support our military and serve as stewards of valuable coastal environmental resources,” said Mr. Nagle. “Seaports are essential to economic prosperity, and federal funding for seaports pays dividends for our country.”
The letter comes on the heels of a speech from the White House Rose Garden this morning, where President Barrack Obama listed ports as one of the important investment areas that America should focus on in the near term and going forward.
“We have to have a serious conversation about making real, lasting investments in infrastructure, from better ports to a smarter electric grid to high speed rail,” President Obama said. “At a time when interest rates are low and workers are unemployed, the best time to make those investments is now, not once another levee fails or another bridge falls. Right now is when we need to be making these decisions.”
To view AAPA’s letter and accompanying attachment to members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, click here. For information and examples on the contributions of seaports and how they deliver prosperity, click on www.seaportsdeliverprosperity.org.
