Maryland is offering two new economic relief programs to support businesses affected by the Key Bridge collapse.
A program through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development provides businesses with grants of up to $50,000.
Meanwhile, another program provides no-interest loans of up to a half-million dollars. A total of $15 million in grants and loans are available through the programs for businesses with 500 or fewer employees that have been impacted by a loss of revenue or an increase in costs related to the bridge collapse.
Tuesday will mark four weeks since the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was destroyed by a cargo ship, slamming into one of its main vertical supports, and now the city is taking legal action.
Baltimore City is suing the owner and operator of the Dali cargo ship in the collapse. The city blames the owners for having faulty equipment on the cargo carrier.
The city claims the crew was incompetent and inattentive in allowing the ship to crash into the bridge. Baltimore is not only seeking damages related to the lost revenue at the city’s port, but also the cost of replacing the bridge.
“We need to make sure that we have the commitment moving forward to replace the bridge with the type of bridge befitting of our community,” Sen. Ben Cardin said as he plans to meet this week with the Office of Management and Budget.
There’s a limit to how much money is appropriated for these types of projects, and Cardin says Congress has to appropriate those funds.
“The Congress has come together to make sure the resources are there so that infrastructure can be replaced,” Cardin said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the federal government will pick up the lion’s share of the cost of a new key bridge.
“There are pots of dollars that are unleashed under emergency declarations, and those funds are flowing,” Cardin added.
President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress for supplemental funding perhaps of a billion dollars or more to replace the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge before he comes to Baltimore on Friday. For the time being, federal and state agencies are looking to get the port back in operation, ASAP. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore joined The T.J. Smith Show on Tuesday and discussed the current recovery efforts given the fact that overnight and into the dawn, a severe thunderstorm hit Baltimore with heavy rain expected on and off into Wednesday.
“The lightning…that really does hinder some of the salvage operations that can take place. It can hinder the mobility of the cranes that we have,” Moore said.
This Tuesday marks an official one week since the Key Bridge collapsed.
“We have been working, really, around the clock speaking with these CEOs, speaking with these businesses; and letting them know that even if there is any form of temporary disruption, this is temporary,” Moore said. “We want to be able to keep them in the Port of Baltimore.”
“We expected them to try to push toward the limitation of their liability,” Moore said.” There is an active investigation that’s going on at NTSB. And if people need to be accountable for this disaster, they will be held accountable.”
ONFIRE-TV.com – Temporary, alternate channel established for commercial vessels after Key Bridge collapse. President Biden to visit Baltimore following last week’s collapse of Key Bridge and Mayor Scott says Baltimore’s 2025 budget is balanced without raising taxes or cutting services.
The U.S. Coast Guard established a temporary, alternate channel for commercially essential vessels near the fallen Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, part of a phased approach to opening the main channel leading to the vital port, officials said.
Crews have begun the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the bridge’s deadly collapse into the Patapsco River after a freighter collision last week. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.
The captain of the port is preparing to establish the temporary channel on the northeast side of the main channel. It will have a controlling depth of 11 feet (over 3 meters), a horizontal clearance of 264 feet (80 meters) and a vertical clearance of 96 feet (29 meters), officials said. A video released Sunday showed the Coast Guard dropping buoys in the water.
“This will mark an important first step along the road to reopening the port of Baltimore,” Capt. David O’Connell, the federal on-scene coordinator of the response, said in a statement Sunday night. “By opening this alternate route, we will support the flow of marine traffic into Baltimore.”
On Monday, the Small Business Administration is opening a center in Dundalk, Maryland, to help small businesses get loans to help them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.
The bridge fell as the crew of the cargo ship Dali lost power and control on March 26. They called in a mayday, which allowed just enough time for police to stop vehicles from getting on the bridge, but not enough time to get a crew of eight workers off the structure.
On Tuesday morning after the collapse, it was reported that two people were rescued from the water. One refused treatment while the other was transported to shock trauma. Later that day, it was reported that 6 people, construction workers who were on the bridge at the time, were still missing and presumably dead. On Wednesday, Moore addressed the search for the remaining crew members.
“They [the rescue team] are in frigid conditions,” Moore said. “They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them. They are trying to navigate mangled metal and they are also in a place where it is now presumed that people have lost their lives. So, the work of these first responders, the work of these divers; I cannot stress enough how remarkable these individuals are.”
