Back in July 2006 at The Homestead resort, George Allen thought he had made Jim Webb look like he didn't know anything about Virginia by asking him a "gotcha" question on "2,500 acres of one-time river muck" called "Craney Island." Well, Jim Webb didn't know what the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area was back then, but he sure knows what it is now! Yesterday, Webb voted -- along with John Warner and 77 other U.S. Senators -- to override President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007, a comprehensive water resources bill that included money for expansion of Craney Island as a marine terminal.
The water bill, which now becomes law, would authorize a $356 million downpayment to expand Portsmouth's Craney Island and build a marine terminal on top of it. The Virginia Port Authority has estimated it would cost $2.24 billion to add 580 acres of new land to the eastern side of Craney Island and build the terminal, which would open in phases between 2017 and 2032.
By the way, the House of Representatives voted 361-54 on Tuesday to override the veto. Believe it or not, 4 Virginia Republicans -- Eric Cantor, Virgil Goode, Bob Goodlatte, and Frank Wolf -- actually voted to UPHOLD the veto and deny funding for the Craney Island project! I wonder what Thelma Drake thinks of her fellow Virginia Republicans now.