Federal grant to boost rail connection to Port of Pascagoula

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality will receive a $574,000 federal grant for a project to establish a rail link to the Port of Pascagoula.

The proposed 4,300-foot rail connection in Jackson County is part of the port's intermodal improvement project, according to a press release issued yesterday by U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.).

The funds will be used for planning, surveying and permitting required for the rail-link project. The federal dollars are being made available as part of the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), which provides funding for Gulf Coast states affected by the BP explosion and oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

"Better rail infrastructure will help Mississippi businesses more efficiently move their products to markets and will support our ports as hubs of commerce and trade," said Wicker. "This grant lays the groundwork for a rail link that will reduce rail congestion and improve safety."

Wicker, then-Sen. Thad Cochran and Palazzo sponsored the RESTORE Act, which provided Gulf Coast states — Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Texas — with 80 percent of the proceeds from Clean Water Act fines related to the explosion and oil spill.