Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions S. 1345

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

S. 1345. A bill to extend the authorization for the ferry boat discretionary program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will greatly enhance Federal participation in financing and improving our Nation's ferry transportation system.

Today I am introducing the Ferry Transportation Enhancement Act. I am proud to have Senators BOXER, CANTWELL,
CORZINE, CLINTON, EDWARDS, FEINSTEIN, HOLLINGS, KENNEDY, LAUTENBERG, and SCHUMER as original cosponsors. This bill will provide significantly more resources to state governments, public ferry systems, and public entities responsible for developing facilities for ferries.

Specifically, the bill would: provide $150 million a year for the Federal Highway Administration's Ferry Boat Discretionary Program for fiscal years 2004 through 2009. This is approximately four times the $38 million a year that is currently being provided under this program; add "ferry maintenance facilities" to the list of allowable use of funds under this program; add "ferries" to the Clean Fuels Program; establish a Ferry Joint Program Office to coordinate Federal programs affecting ferry boat and ferry facility construction, maintenance, and operations and to promote ferry service as a component of the Nation's transportation system; establish an information database on ferry systems, routes, vessels, passengers and vehicles carried; and establish an institute for ferries to conduct R&D, conduct training programs, encourage collaborative efforts to promote ferry service, and preserve historical information. This will parallel institutes that now exist for highways, transit, and rail.

Currently, the Federal investment in ferries is only one-tenth of one percent of the total Surface Transportation Program. There is virtually no coordination at the Federal level to encourage and promote ferries as there are for other modes of transportation.

We need better coordinated ferry services because it's the sole means of surface transportation in many areas of the country, including Hawaii, Alaska and my home State of Washington.

Ferries are also the preferred, and the only feasible, method of commuting from home to work in places like Washington State, New York/New Jersey, North Carolina, Hawaii and Alaska.

Finally, in many States—like my home State of Washington—they are an important part of the tourism industry and represent a part of our cultural identity.

The symbol of ferries moving people and vehicles on the waterways of the Puget Sound is as much a part of our cultural identity as computers, coffee, commercial aircraft and the Washington Apple.

Ferry use is growing.

In Washington State our ferry system—the Nation's largest—currently transports 26 million passengers each year and carries 11 million vehicles.

Other systems that serve New York/New Jersey, North Carolina, San Francisco, and Alaska also have significant numbers of passengers using the ferries.

The Nation's six largest ferry systems carried 73 million people and 13 million vehicles last year.

The growth projection for ferry use is very high. For these larger systems, it is projected that by 2009 there will be a 14-percent increase in passengers and a 17-percent increase in vehicles being carried by ferries compared to 2002.
In San Francisco, that projection is a 46-percent increase.

It is clear that many people are using ferries and more will be using them in the future.

This is all with very little help from the Federal Government.

Our investment in ferries pails in comparison to the Federal investments in highways and other forms of mass transit.
Our bill would provide the needed funding for these growing systems for new ferry boat construction, for ferry facilities and terminals, and for maintenance facilities.

The bill also would make ferries eligible under the Clean Fuels Program.

Like busses, ferries are a form of mass transit that is environmentally cleaner than mass use of cars and trucks. Making them eligible for the Clean Fuels Program will encourage boat makers to design cleaner and more efficient vessels in the future. This will make ferry travel an even more environmentally friendly means of transportation than it already is today.

Finally, setting up a Ferry Joint Program Office, keeping track of ferry statistics, and establishing a National Ferry Institute will increase the profile of ferries as part of our Nation's infrastructure and provide a method to analyze and research ways to improve their use.

In the end, I hope this proposal can be included in the TEA-21 Reauthorization.

Ferries are an important part of our Nation's transportation infrastructure. This bill recognizes their importance by providing the resources and support they need to grow and serve passengers.

I urge the Senate support this bill, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to see it passed.