White House official to tour Green Bay coal piles as port seeks $25 million federal grant
GREEN BAY - The Port of Green Bay applied for a $25 million federal grant to cover higher-than-expected costs to build a new port facility, a project key to ongoing community efforts to relocate the coal piles out of the central city.
The port in February applied for a U.S. Department of Transportation RAISE Discretionary Grant to close a budget gap in a plan to develop a new multipurpose port facility on the former Pulliam Power Plant site at the mouth of the Fox River. Cost estimates last fall showed improvements and infrastructure work on the site would cost about $48.7 million, about $19 million more than originally expected.
Port Director Dean Haen said the community's application included letters of support from 40 businesses, legislators and Gov. Tony Evers that "make our case why it's very important to Green Bay." He said the grant is necessary to ensure construction starts in 2025 on the new port facility along the west shore at the mouth of the Fox River.
Senior aide to President Joe Biden in Green Bay to tour coal piles
The port won't find out until summer whether it receives the grant, but a senior White House official's plan to tour the coal piles site during a visit to Green Bay on Thursday was taken as a positive sign.
The tour, as much as the guest of honor, would carry some import in itself — It will be the first time a representative of C. Reiss Coal Co. joined city of Green Bay and Brown County officials to tour the site since they first identified an opportunity to relocate the coal yard in 2021.
Keith Hasselhoff of C. Reiss Coal Co. led a tour of the coal piles for senior adviser to President Joe Biden and Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Tom Perez, Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, Haen and other city and county officials. Perez also toured City East Center, a city- and state-funded affordable housing development and new home of the Brown County United Way.
After 4 years of work, Green Bay, Brown County, C. Reiss have community close to plan to relocate coal piles
Brown County in 2021 paid $2.7 million to Wisconsin Public Service Corp. for the former J.P. Pulliam power plant site. WPS generated electricity on the 43.7-acre site from 1927 until 2018 when WPS shut down the two coal-fired power plants and began demolishing them.
The county saw the property as an opportunity to expand port operations in an industrial area of Green Bay on a site with room to relocate the coal piles, a goal community leaders have pursued for decades now. Genrich has called the relocation a "once-in-a-city's-lifetime" transformation of the community's waterfront.
But the site needs a lot of costly work.
Port officials have since secured about $30.8 million in funding for the projects:
$15 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars via Gov. Tony Evers.
$10.1 million federal Port Infrastructure Development Program Grant.
$500,000 Idle Sites Grant from Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to help buy the property.
$3.2 million in Brown County American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
$2.1 million in WisDOT Harbor Assistance Grants.
The funding and engineering work to design the port expansion enabled the community to accelerate discussions with C. Reiss Coal Co. about relocating the coal piles.
What's the Port of Green Bay expansion project?
The site needs improvements and upgrades on land and in the Fox River in order to potentially facilitate a variety of maritime deliveries and pickups. This site would be publicly owned in contrast to the 14 current port terminals that are privately owned and operated.
A major component of the project would involve dredging along the site and installation of a steel dock wall to enable ships to dock at the site. Construction plans include:
Dredge the Fox River along the site and install a steel dock wall to enable ships to access the site.
Construct a rail spur.
Fill in the docking slip on the Pulliam site.
Build a stormwater detention basin.
Add mooring facilities and crane pads for port operations.
Repair the sea wall.
This developing story will be updated.
Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: White House official tours coal piles; Port of Green Bay seeks $25M grant
