WASHINGTON D.C. — A new memo from Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan bolsters a recent statement from Sen. Susan Collins that funded projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery seem poised to move forward.

Collins, R-Maine, and Sens. Angus King I-Maine, Jeanne Shaheen D-New Hampshire and Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, have issued a joint news release in response to a new memo from Shanahan. That memo directs that military construction projects with fiscal year 2019 award dates be exempt from having their funding diverted to pay for a border wall due to President Trump’s emergency declaration.

This specific criteria means that the current projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with FY 2019 award dates — which had funding specifically appropriated by Congress and signed into law — should not be impacted by the President’s emergency declaration, the senators said.

“We are encouraged that Secretary Shanahan’s criteria appears to maintain funding for urgently needed projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,” said Senators Collins, King, Shaheen and Hassan.

Collins had gotten a similar response a week ago after questioning Vice Admiral Dixon Smith, the Navy’s Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, about the status of the three 2019 projects. Collins told the admiral that the projects for which she’d secured $162 million have award dates before Sept. 30.

Smith responded that the Navy was currently on track to award all three.

The three 2019 projects include a super flood basin that would allow an expansion of the existing dry dock to service Los Angeles and Virginia class submarines 365 days a year, a crane rail project and another involving the Defense Logistics Agency. A fourth project, the Paint, Blast and Rubber facility, was funded in 2017 and the senators have said that initiative is also poised to move forward.

In March, the Department of Defense provided a list of military construction projects that included the PNSY priorities, which the senators said were under threat of losing funding as a result of the emergency declaration. The list came in response to questioning from senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including  Shaheen.

According to the joint news release from the four senators, since President Trump announced his emergency declaration — and projects at the Kittery shipyard were listed as potential targets to lose funding — members of the Maine and New Hampshire delegations have advocated on behalf of the shipyard and worked to defend the funding secured by Congress.

“The Shipyard’s mission is more important than ever, and we hope that shipyard workers will soon have a concrete assurance that this funding is secure once the Department of Defense has made a final determination,” they said in the statement. “However, we remain very concerned regarding the President’s emergency declaration and the implications it could have for our national security. Our nation’s military construction needs have been funded by Congress and signed into law, and it is unconstitutional to divert these resources for other purposes.”

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard pumped $882 million into the area economy in 2018, up $131 million from the previous year, according to a report issued last week by the Seacoast Shipyard Association.

The shipyard employed 6,972 civilians in 2018, up from 6,450 in 2017. Of those, 4,234, or 55 percent, live in Maine and earned $314 million.

In all, the civilian payroll for 2018 was $548 million, and of that, $314 went to Maine workers, $198 million to those from New Hampshire, nearly $16 million to workers who commute from Massachusetts and about $19 million to those who come from other states.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.

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