The collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore crippled activity at one of the nation’s busiest ports — and now the recovery process is only just beginning.
The tragedy also took the lives of six construction workers who were working on the bridge when it was struck by a container ship.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo got an update from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on the recovery effort the weekend after the bridge’s collapse.
Van Hollen: First and foremost, I’m thinking about the families of the six individuals that we lost on the bridge. It was a reminder of the work people do every day for the good of the community not knowing when they get up, what’s going to happen. And so, we are putting our arms around their families and doing everything we can to support them. Very grateful to the first responders, including those who helped prevent even more deaths by stopping traffic across the bridge. And then we are very focused 24/7 on opening the channel so that we can reopen the port of Baltimore, 15,000 direct jobs connected to the port of Baltimore, over 140,000 connected overall to port work. Businesses, large and small, that are connected and really nationally, as people are now learning, Maryland is the number one port in the country for autos and light trucks, and for farm equipment. So we got to get the channel open, we’re working 24/7 to do it. And then of course, we are also beginning the process of putting together the plan to rebuild the bridge.
Murillo: And you know, it’s going to be a costly process. And the federal government has said it will step up and cover a majority of this. Where do we stand with that and what needs to happen for that to be secured?
Van Hollen: Well, let me say first, with respect to clearing the channel for the port, I want to thank the president of the United States, he’s already quickly moved to make good on his pledge. The Army Corps of Engineers will cover the costs of reopening that channel so that we can get the port up and running. And the federal government has already accepted Maryland’s emergency petition to participate in what’s called the Emergency Relief Program. This is a program at the United States Department of Transportation for exactly these kinds of emergencies. And it means that the federal government will pick up 90% of the costs of rebuilding. Sen. Cardin and I, and Congressman Mfume, plan to introduce legislation to cover the balance so that we can meet the president’s commitment that, you know, Marylanders will not have to sort of be left paying the bill for this terrible tragedy with national implications.
Murillo: Now, do you have any plans or do you have any plans in Congress — obviously the NTSB is investigating right now — but will there be any congressional looks into what happened here?
Van Hollen: Well, we will await the report from the NTSB, they’ll probably take some time, do their due diligence. But yes, we will be very eager to see what that report says for two reasons. One is to, you know, hold responsible and liable any people involved in wrongdoing that caused this accident, because we want to make sure that we recover funds from them. Any funds that we get from liability should be deducted from the federal funds, but also, Mike, because we obviously want to learn the lessons to avoid this kind of tragedy going forward, whether it be in Baltimore or other places around the country.
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