Port of Hueneme Gets $364,000 Grant for Security

The Port of Hueneme has received a federal grant of nearly $364,000 for increased security, part of $33.7 million awarded Wednesday to state and local governments and private companies along the California coast.

The port will spend $166,320 for lighting, $115,000 for security cameras, $41,850 for scanners, radios and an incident-command trailer, and $40,000 for barrier gates, officials said.

“This is terrific news for the Port of Hueneme,” Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) said in a statement. “Our port is critical to the nation’s homeland defense, and it is truly an economic engine here in Ventura County.”

The amount is about one-third of the $1.1 million requested by the Oxnard Harbor District, which operates the port. But, said district Executive Director William Buenger, “We’re delighted that we received the award.”

The money was needed because of increased security measures mandated by the federal government after Sept. 11, 2001, Buenger said. “The whole purpose of these grants is to help implement some of the cost of these new requirements,” he said.

The port, the only deep-water shipping center between Los Angeles and San Francisco, trades in everything from automobiles to produce and generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year into the Ventura County economy.

Among the other grants awarded were $10.4 million to the Port of Los Angeles and $2.6 million to the Port of Richmond.

Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said in a statement, “The department is committed to improving security at our maritime facilities, and we know that our ports are not secured from Washington.”