President Donald Trump’s first fiscal year 2019 appropriations minibus — which includes $44.6 billion for U.S. Department of Energy and critical infrastructure projects administered by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, may mean good news is on the way for Southeast Texas.

The news may also herald work on the much-anticipated project to deepen the Sabine Neches Ship Channel.

Randall Reese, Sabine Neches Navigation District general director, said Wednesday there is a 60-day window for the money to be allotted and a chance for a new start on the project with the funding.

Reese has been in conversations with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Galveston, Dallas and the Corp’s headquarters in Washington, D. C.

Reese said he is “cautiously optimistic” that funding will be allocated to the waterway project.

Paul Beard, chairman of SNND, said he has great hopes that within the next 60 days they will be told to go forward with the project.

Beard spoke briefly on the topic during the Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce Leadership Breakfast on Tuesday at the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center.

The project, according to information from the Sabine Neches Navigation District, would deepen the waterway from 40 to 48 feet and:

• Allow larger ships a passage to local ports
• Take advantage of the Panama Canal expansion
• Keep the area competitive with other U.S. ports
• Better manage waterway traffic

The last improvement to the waterway was nearly 50 years ago and ship design has evolved tremendously.

President Trump signed the minibus, H.R. 5895, into law Sept. 21.