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Southwest WA Ports and Shipping Advocates Dodge Politics to Bring Home Federal Dollars by Henry Brannan The Columbian, August 7, 2025

D.C. trip comes amid political chaos nationally and
at a key time for the Columbia River shipping system

Ryan Hart was at Portland International Airport last month waiting to board a flight for Washington, D.C., when he saw Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

"You see your member of Congress in the airport, it's a familiar face, you say 'Hello,' " said Hart, chief external affairs officer for the Port of Vancouver. "It provides an opportunity as well, in those informal settings, to extend our gratitude and thanks to the member of Congress for their ongoing support for the Columbia River and the ports."

Hart was headed to Washington in large part to meet with the congresswoman's staff the next day for that very purpose.

The trip was aimed at explaining Columbia River ports and shippers' needs, as well as ways the federal government could support the shipping system -- which generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the region.

Hart's flight got in late July 14. Over the next two days, he -- along with staff from the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, the Port of Longview and a D.C.-based consultant -- attended a dozen meetings with elected officials, their staff and officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the Columbia River shipping channel.

Meetings like these build relationships and policy consensus. They also grease the skids of bureaucracy, allowing the Columbia River shipping system to get the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal investment needed to remain operational and globally competitive.

Put simply, this is the routine, behind-the-scenes work that makes the system work.

"We work very closely with the other ports on the Columbia -- Longview, Kalama, Port of Portland -- to advocate for the river system," said Hart, adding trips like last month's are "an opportunity for us to highlight how important that river system is to the overall economy of our region and the country."

A large operation

The Columbia River shipping system extends from the $172 million jetties at the river's mouth, which skilled bar pilots steer ships through every day, 465 miles upriver to grain export terminals in Lewiston, Idaho.

The system moves tens of billions of dollars in goods each year: Japanese Subarus into Vancouver, South Korean steel into Longview, Canadian mineral fertilizers out of Portland, American grain through export terminals.

The system generates substantial profits for global shippers, as well as local importers and exporters. It also provides high-paying jobs and plays a key role in Southwest Washington's economy.

The region's ports employed roughly 1,000 people who brought home $170 million in wages in 2023, according to the Washington Employment Security Department's most recent data.

There isn't data to show how many people are employed in jobs directly related to Columbia River shipping. But a share of the roughly 8,700 jobs in wholesale trade across Clark and Cowlitz counties -- worth nearly $800 million in 2023 wages -- is dependent on the river, said Emily Robertson, the state's regional labor economist.

More than 40,000 jobs rely indirectly on the system, according to research by the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, a trade group that advocates for the region's shipping industry.

Political tightrope

Recent Trump administration policies, including tariffs, have strained or upended sometimes decades-old trading relationships, as well as the pro-trade, "a-rising-tide-raises-all-ships" thinking that was behind them.

Funding and staffing cuts at the federal agencies which support and maintain the Columbia River system have eroded trust in the once unquestionable idea that the federal government would do anything it could to support the shipping system.

All that has come together to make the work the ports and their advocates do in Washington, D.C., both increasingly difficult and that much more important.

As a rule, the organizations avoid acknowledging partisan politics. Instead, they work with anyone who can help with the regional economic development mission. But to bring home job-creating wins, they have to walk an increasingly delicate political tightrope.

Neil Maunu runs the waterways association. For his group and the ports they represent, Maunu said the work focuses on economic development.

"No matter which side of the party line you're on, jetties, dikes, dredging, docks, all of this type of infrastructure is important to maintain for the vitality of the region," he said.

That approach has led the well-respected group to take positions in a way rarely seen in the current political climate.

In February, the waterways group came out against the Trump administration's federal workforce cuts, saying Army Corps of Engineers workers who were set to be fired were "vital to the safety, efficiency, and economic vitality of the entire region." In March, it took a similar stance against Trump's tariffs, saying the import taxes would drive commercial traffic out of U.S. ports.

Yet, last month the nonpartisan organization cheered the Trump administration for its move to end a Biden-era environmental review of the Columbia River that could have led to removing lower Snake River dams to save endangered salmon runs. That's a stance it also asserted during former President Joe Biden's term, when it tore into his review as "unlawful" and "misleading."

Despite the balancing act, the 150-member organization and its partners have repeatedly succeeded in building regional consensus -- and finding federal support to get those priorities funded.

A history of wins

Last month's trip focused on two things, said Dena Horton, deputy director of the waterways association and the group's representative on the trip:

• First, the group wants to get projects that are good for the Columbia River system included in the Water Resource Development Act. That's the name for the bill Congress takes on every other year to allow the Army Corps to start projects.
• Second, the group wants to get those projects funded through the federal budget appropriations process.

Another win came when the bill started the process of the Corps shouldering the costs of Columbia River dredging caused by persistent sediment from Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption. Recent work to replace erosion-control structures along the navigation channel also relates back to the legislation.

When pressed, Maunu said that while the group is frugal in its travel, there are big returns from the half-dozen trips they make to Washington, D.C., each year.

"When you start adding up all the infrastructure and all the benefits, it is, I'm sure, hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.

The Army Corps stressed in a statement the importance of the shipping system and its pride in Corps' staff.

"It's important for the system to get consistent and coordinated maintenance, letting inland shippers, ports, cruise lines and other users have dependable means to move goods and provide services," said Tom Conning, regional Corps spokesman.

New priorities

The July trip focused on getting more funding for dredging, $40 million for repairs to the north jetties at the river's mouth and a sustainable funding mechanism to pay Canada for essential flood control on the upper Columbia River.

The ports and the waterways association also advocated for the Corps to move from the study phase into design for a project that would allow large ships to turn around at the Port of Kalama.

Horton said the region also wanted to get the ball rolling on replacing navigational lock gates at McNary Dam as well as Bonneville, Ice Harbor and Lower Monumental dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

"There's quite a (few) chess pieces that need to be moved in order to get to the end where we can replace those gates," she said.

The groups seem to stand decent chances of landing those priorities in coming years.

"In the era of Pacific trade, the Columbia River is our gateway," according to a statement from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. "That's why infrastructure investment is so important in Southwest Washington communities."

Cantwell, whose staff met with the waterways association last month, highlighted the jetty rehabilitation and Kalama turning basin projects, alongside other regional shipping infrastructure investment projects, as key for the region's future.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement she's fighting the "havoc" the Trump administration is wreaking on trade systems. She added she's "in constant communication with the ports of Vancouver and Longview so that I can consistently advocate for them at the federal level and protect the tens of thousands of jobs they support."

Perez, D-Skamania, thanked local ports and waterways association for supporting the region's supply chains, and highlighted her work getting the last funding bill passed.

"I've continued to stay in conversation with our port leaders so I can fight for Army Corps policies and projects that meet our needs," she said in a statement.

Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents Central Washington, sent a statement of support for the system, emphasizing he has great relationships with Columbia River stakeholders, with whom he meets "on a weekly basis." The congressman has worked with the association to fight lower Snake River dam removal.

For Maunu, the purpose of this work comes down to keeping the system competitive at a time when international shippers, importers and exporters are navigating growing costs of doing business in the U.S. -- and some may be looking elsewhere.

"The reliability and efficiency of this system enables us -- as a system and stakeholders -- to market this system," he said. "If we're not reliable, if we don't get the funding that we need -- the company buying grain, the company buying copper concentrate or importing autos -- is not going to use our ports."