Congressman Nick Langworthy speaking at Barcelona Harbor (February 15, 2023)

Congressman Nick Langworthy says the restoration of Barcelona Harbor is a top issue for him in Chautauqua County.

Langworthy, joined by Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, Westfield Town Supervisor Martha Bills, and other officials, spoke on an eroded dock while being buffeted by high winds off Lake Erie in Barcelona Harbor.

Langworthy said the harbor was considered one of the few “safe harbors” on Lake Erie, but the Coast Guard removed that designation.

He said work needs to be done to get the harbor operational again, “And all of this is due to rising water levels and high winds in the Fall of 2019 that severely impacted this channel here and filled it in as you can see. And we’ll have some of the folks here share some of the specifics, because they live it every day. It’s increasingly shallow and it’s become all shoaled in, so we have to get this thing dredged and we have to get the funding in place. The viability of this harbor is at stake.”

$1.1 million in funding to dredge the harbor had been included in the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus.

Langworthy said he hopes to have a meeting this week with the Army Corp of Engineers to discuss the timeline for dredging.

He said dredging is supposed to be done every 5 to 10 years with 2017 being the last time it was done in Barcelona, “But we’ve had extreme storms. And when you have extreme circumstances, you’ve got to change your model and we have to have a permanent solution, but we have to solve the short-term dilemma. And there’s too much debris here. We have to get this harbor opened back up so that we have a vibrant season ahead.”

County Executive Wendel said the harbor has gotten progressively worse since he took office in 2019 and that it’s at a short-term crisis point, “And this harbor is almost shut off right now. There was a safe harbor, if you look over my left shoulder, those markers have been taken down because this is no longer a safe harbor. You’re not able to get in. The Coast Guard, themselves, when they came in here a year or so ago to do an inspection dinged up one of their own props. And after that, they then declared that it’s not a safe harbor anymore, so this has been to the attention of everyone, but like anything else, it’s something we need to move on quicker.”

Wendel said commerce is at stake as well for the local fisheries, fishing charters, and dive charters that operate out of the harbor.

Dredging is scheduled to happen in July but town officials are working to get that moved up to May, depending on when fish are spawning. Wendel said with Lake Erie not being frozen, they’re hoping to see if it can be done as early as March so as not to impact the late Spring and Summer commercial fishing season.

Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, Dunkirk Director of Development Vince DeJoy

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer touted $10 million in funding for waterfront infrastructure projects in Dunkirk Thursday.

Schumer, in a visit to the Dunkirk harbor, said that the funding is part of the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus, which includes $8 million in funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “There’s $1.1 million for Barcelona Harbor. There’s $1 million for Cattaraugus Creek and $5.9 million for Dunkirk Harbor. Why is Dunkirk Harbor so much more? Cause every body will be dredged. You know the silt has really just gathered up and it hasn’t been cleared for a very long time. So we’re doing that in all three harbors. But in addition, in Dunkirk harbor they’re going to work on the breakwater, which we’ve needed for a long time and it’s so important for keeping this harbor strong and vital.”

Schumer said $2 million also will go to the Village of Mayville to construct a new water well, replacing existing contaminated wells.

He added that former mentor and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan always decried the fact that New York state always sent more tax dollars to Washington D.C. then it received back, “He called us a ‘donor state.’ However, this is the first year that we are getting more dollars back than we sent. For every dollar we sent to Washington, we’re getting $1.59 back. That’s the first time every and that’s why having a Majority Leader from New York State is a darn good thing.”

When asked where things are with the Federal Infrastructure Bill, Schumer said that bill has now been signed with money becoming available in September 2022.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Congressman Tom Reed touted local projects in the $1.5 trillion omnibus bill passed in the House Wednesday.

The House voted in a bipartisan manner to approve the massive spending package to keep the federal government open along with $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine.

The Senate approved the package Thursday. The Senate also unanimously approved a four-day stop-gap bill last night that the House has already passed, just in case the omnibus does not receive Biden’s signature in time to avoid a shutdown late today.

Speaking during his weekly media call, Reed said the bill provides nine direct funding lines for water and sewer projects in the district, “For areas like the City of Corning, the town of Cherry Creek, town of Prattsburg, town of Seneca Falls, the village of Portville, the village of Dundee, the village of Mayville, and Elmira College. As well as the ‘Dream It, Do It,’ Western New York job training and placement program that’s in Jamestown.”

Reed said additional funding was negotiated for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for operation maintenance of the Barcelona and Dunkirk harbors. He added that the defense provisions added to the omnibus will go a long way to dealing with threats from Russia as well as emerging military threats from China, and elsewhere.

The overall spending package includes a 5.6%, increase in defense spending over current levels, along with 6.7% increase for non-defense spending.

In the aid for Ukraine bill, the humanitarian section includes $4 billion for people displaced within Ukraine and the estimated 2 million people who have fled the country since the war began just two weeks ago. More than $2.5 billion will go to the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide food and health care support. Another $1.4 billion is intended for migration and refugee assistance.

The defense, or lethal aid, section provides $3 billion to support the U.S. military’s European Command and is to be used for “operations mission support, the deployment of personnel to the region, and intelligence support.”

Another $650 million will go to grants or direct loans administered by the Department of Defense Foreign Military Financing. The legislation also gives President Biden the authority to transfer an additional $3 billion in defense equipment to Ukraine and other allies supporting Ukraine.