We all know the state is facing unprecedented economic challenges. However, we can’t continue to focus on the negative while rehashing the same old proposals that have failed to fix our economy or create jobs. We have the opportunity to get behind a plan that will bring immediate and long-term economic benefits to all Rhode Islanders. We must seize it.

I recently traveled to Washington to advocate for one such project called The ReNEWable Port, a comprehensive initiative backed by a strong coalition of employers, labor, environmentalists and elected officials. This program, which is currently pending U.S. Department of Transportation approval, would preserve the existing 2,400 jobs at the Port of Providence (ProvPort) while creating nearly 1,000 new jobs.

ProvPort’s operation is dependent on leased cranes that are now past lifecycle. The potential failure of these cranes would paralyze the port’s operation, which now moves 3.2 million tons of bulk material a year. A ProvPort slowdown would be another body blow to our regional economy. According to Martin Associates, a leading independent port-consulting group, ProvPort currently generates $180 million to the economy annually.

The ReNEWable Port proposal is exactly the kind of initiative we should all encourage and support in Rhode Island. Unlike traditional road-building projects, the funding of the development of this project has a sustainable long-term economic and environmental benefit for Rhode Island.

According to a comprehensive cost/benefit analysis conducted by Bryant University’s Chafee Center for International Business, the ReNEWable Port will generate $120 million annually in economic activity and transform the ProvPort campus from a significant user of fossil fuels to a net producer of renewable energy.

The ReNEWable Port features growth that is significant and sustainable:

The federal dollars would fund new barge-based cranes — cranes capable of handling the existing bulk tonnage but would expand the existing business by adding a container operation. This additional capability would benefit the region by adding a true short-sea shipping solution, greatly improving business efficiency and environmental benefits.

Today, much of the freight bound for New England is shipped to the Port of Newark, transferred to trucks and trucked up the Route 95 corridor. This transportation strategy creates thousands of tons of greenhouse gases and congestion, and it is costly. The ReNEWable Port would use short-sea barge shipping to ProvPort. The result would be substantial: reduction of an estimated 50,000 trucks and 2,300 tons of greenhouse pollutants annually, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide. As an example, one ton of goods can be trucked 59 miles with a gallon of fuel. Comparatively, a barge can carry that same ton of goods 514 miles.

The job-creation impact is of this project is profound; the nearly 1,000 new permanent jobs are estimated by the industry to produce annual compensation of wages and benefits of $80,000. Currently, ProvPort workers average $24 per hour and more than $13 in benefits — compensation that averages $76,000 annually.

Beyond the permanent jobs, hundreds of jobs would be created during construction. These jobs include the building of the barges for the cranes at SENESCO in North Kingstown, one of America’s leading barge builders. By building cranes on barges rather than land, these barges will have the flexibility to be moved in less than two hours for deployment to support the needs at Quonset or other locations.

The project transforms energy policy in Rhode Island and creates a best-practices model for the country. Presently, the tenants at ProvPort use in excess of 4.6 million kWh per year in electricity. Through the deployment of solar and wind, the ReNEWable Ports will generate more than 5.2 million kWh a year and be a net producer of clean energy to the grid.

Unlike many of the proposed projects, the ReNEWable Port faces no significant permitting. As soon as the grant is awarded, the project can begin and Rhode Islanders can get back to work. That’s real stimulus.

The ReNEWable Port creates an innovative job-training program with Providence high schools. Both the Met School and Cooley High School have been targeted for senior internships that will train students for green jobs and provide a path to well-paying jobs in a growth industry.

This project is a win/win for everyone. ProvPort is strategically situated, offers unparalleled access to both New York and Boston, and is in an industrial area appropriate for these activities. TIGER grant dollars would allow ProvPort to expand its activities and capacities, provide dramatic job growth in the region, and replace existing fossil fuel consumption with renewable energy production.

The ReNEWable Port can become a model of smart, sustainable jobs growth and economic development while positioning Rhode Island as a national leader in sustainable green intermodal transportation. Now is the time for action.

(Published in the Providence Journal on October 28, 2009)