Weber urges funding to deepen Sabine waterway, modernize Gulf ports and back nuclear demonstration projects

Representative Randy Weber, R-Texas, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water during a member day hearing that Congress should fund deepening and other upgrades to Gulf Coast navigation channels, modernize harbor infrastructure at Port of Galveston and advance small modular nuclear demonstration projects.

Weber said those improvements are necessary to move the region’s energy and military exports efficiently and to maintain what he described as “American energy dominance.” He asked the subcommittee to consider federal funding for the Sabine-Neches waterway channel improvement project, deeper channels at Galveston and upgrades to Brazos River floodgates, and to support coastal protection work for storm surge risk reduction.

Weber said the Sabine Neches waterway moves large volumes of cargo and energy exports and has not seen major improvements in more than four decades. He told the panel the project would deepen a channel he described as roughly 40 feet today to about 48 feet to allow larger vessels to transit farther upriver. Weber said the local navigation district and county sponsors had agreed to contribute a larger share of project costs than typical, and that engineering work has already begun.

"If we're going to talk about we need to be be energy dominant and the leader in the world, let's not fail to fund the very arteries that make it possible," Weber said.

Weber provided several quantitative details during his remarks. He told the subcommittee the waterway moves about 194,000,000 tons of cargo per year and called it "the largest crude oil and LNG exporter in the nation." He said the local sponsor had offered to contribute about 40 percent of the project cost, higher than the more typical 25 percent local share. Weber described the overall project cost in the hearing record as on the order of $1.1 billion to $2.0 billion (as stated during the hearing). He also said Port of Galveston moves roughly 4,000,000 tons of cargo annually and handles about 1,000,000 cruise passengers a year.

Weber asked the Corps of Engineers to accept state and local contributions so dredging and related work can proceed, and he urged continued federal support for small modular reactor technology and demonstration projects in Southeast Texas. He linked harbor and channel improvements to both commercial and military logistics, saying deeper channels would let very large crude carriers call closer to terminals rather than offloading offshore to smaller vessels.

Subcommittee members asked procedural and status questions. Representative Mike Simpson, R‑Idaho, asked whether Weber planned to request a community project funding item; Weber said he was pursuing the matter with the administration and that local sponsors had already started engineering work and offered an above‑normal local contribution. The subcommittee chair and ranking member did not record votes or take formal action during the hearing segment on Weber’s testimony.

The witness requested congressional funding and administrative approval steps so the Army Corps of Engineers can proceed with dredging and other port improvements; he said local sponsors have begun engineering and pledged increased cost share. No appropriation or formal committee decision on the projects was recorded during the hearing.