Washington, D.C.– Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman today announced that the Department of Homeland Security is awarding over $2 million in grants to help ensure Connecticut ports and the communities surrounding them are prepared for and protected from future terrorist attacks. The assistance will help secure Connecticut’s sensitive facilities on its shoreline including: critical highway and rail bridges, ferry terminals, home heating storage facilities and the nuclear submarine base at Groton. The grants will be distributed state-wide and used to improve security technology, improve facilities for state and local law enforcement and bolster capabilities to hire additional security personnel.
“Connecticut may be a small state, but our homeland security needs are great,” said Dodd. “This funding is a step in the right direction but I would ultimately hope the President and Congress would earmark more funding for homeland security in the future. We simply cannot afford to make those on the front lines go it alone.” “The vulnerability of our ports to terrorist mayhem is one of the more sobering pieces of information to emerge from several security assessments conducted over the past few years,” Lieberman said. “It is a vulnerability that the federal government – in partnership with state and local governments and the private sector – must turn to in earnest, with a serious commitment of resources. This grant is a good start toward the financial commitment that must be made.” Grantees include: Motiva Enterprises, LLC, Bridgeport, $240,336; Consumers Petroleum on Connecticut, Bridgeport, $22,400; Hoffman Fuel Company of Bridgeport, LLC, Bridgeport, $20,000; New Haven Terminal, Inc., New Haven, $446,761; Williams Energy Partners, New Haven, $430,000; State of Connecticut, New Haven, $75,000; Motiva Enterprises, LLC, New haven, $298,727; City of New Haven, $171,312; Gateway Terminal, New Haven, $43,500; Nelsoco Navigation Company, New London; $17,500; Cross Sound Ferry Services, Inc., New London, $56,926; Heating Oil Partners LP DDLC Energy, New London, $38,500; Fishers Island Ferry District, New London, $300,000; and Getty Terminals Corp., New Haven/Newark/Providence, $195,435.