US House bill has key Savannah harbor provision

SAVANNAH (AP) - A bill that's passed the U.S. House includes a key provision for deepening the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah.

The House voted a near-unanimous 417-3 Wednesday to approve $8.2 billion worth of plans for dams, harbors, river navigation and other water projects nationwide.

The bill would clear a final bureaucratic hurdle to the long-sought Savannah harbor deepening by raising the project's authorized spending limit nearly $200 million to the current cost estimate of $652 million.

Georgia's 14 House members all voted to pass the bill. A different version has already passed the Senate, which must agree on a final version with the House.

Savannah and other East Coast ports want deeper harbors to accommodate supersized cargo ships expected to begin arriving through an expanded Panama Canal in 2015.