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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. We head to the

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Speaker 1: north lawn of the White House now with the aforementioned

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Speaker 1: Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buddha. Judge, mister Secretary, thanks for

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Speaker 1: joining us again on Bloomberg. Welcome back. I know it's

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Speaker 1: a busy day for you. We still have a lot

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Speaker 1: of questions, of course, about logistics, about the economic impact,

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Speaker 1: the cost of this project. But it's not lost on

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Speaker 1: us that six souls are still unaccounted for. How long

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Speaker 1: will this remain a recovery mission.

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Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately, recovery is not easy. There is poor visibility,

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Speaker 2: there are tides in and out. But I'll tell you,

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Speaker 2: having met some of the divers yesterday as they came

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Speaker 2: out of the water for what was at that time

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Speaker 2: still a search and rescue mission, the best people are

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Speaker 2: working on this. I talked to the fire chief. His

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Speaker 2: only concern was that his people weren't necessarily inclined to

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Speaker 2: pace themselves. They came off a shift or out of

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Speaker 2: the water, and we're already thinking about going back in.

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Speaker 2: People are moving heaven and earth on that. And in

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Speaker 2: the meantime, what we know is that there are six families,

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Speaker 2: that everything was normal for them two days ago, and

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Speaker 2: now their lives are never going to be the same.

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Speaker 2: A seventh who was very seriously injured, and we're waiting

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Speaker 2: for word on their condition as well.

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Speaker 1: You have now received an emergency funding request, Secretary from

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Speaker 1: authorities in Maryland. How much is the state asking for

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Speaker 1: and how quickly will the administration act on that.

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Speaker 2: We're going to process this request immediately. We've got to

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Speaker 2: make sure that funding is not a source of delay

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Speaker 2: in getting to work. And even this afternoon, our Federal

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Speaker 2: Highways Administration team already sitting down with the Maryland DOT

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Speaker 2: to talk design, procurement and what it's going to take

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Speaker 2: to scope and launch that project of getting a new

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Speaker 2: bridge built. This isn't going to happen overnight. The original

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Speaker 2: bridge took about five years to put up, and this

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Speaker 2: isn't going to be cheap either. But we do have

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Speaker 2: emergency relief funds to help in these kinds of situations.

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Speaker 2: We really cannot yet say what the total price tag

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Speaker 2: will be. One thing I would point to is in

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Speaker 2: two thousand and seven that Minnesota bridge collapse. It was

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Speaker 2: a different situation, but it was another time when the

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Speaker 2: federal government came in to help Minnesota rebuild that cost

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Speaker 2: about two hundred and sixty million dollars. This is a

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Speaker 2: larger span of a bridge, likely in many ways a

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Speaker 2: more complex project. We just don't know the full scope.

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Speaker 1: Yet, Little Secretary. We keep hearing it's a different time now,

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Speaker 1: it's a different political era than it was in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and seven, and that this may not go easily

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Speaker 1: on Capitol Hill. Have you begun engaging lawmakers already on

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Speaker 1: what will be your emergency funding request.

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Speaker 2: Yes. We had a conversation yesterday with members of the

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Speaker 2: Maryland delegation, Senators Cardon and Van holland several House members,

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Speaker 2: including the representators who look after the area most directly impacted.

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Speaker 2: I know they're going to leave nothing to chance in

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Speaker 2: terms of making sure the resources are there. Look, I

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Speaker 2: know that politics are divisive right now, but this can't

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Speaker 2: be a political issue. This can't be a part of

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Speaker 2: an issue. To anybody who's on the fence on that,

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Speaker 2: when the time comes, I would just say, you know,

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Speaker 2: this is happening in Baltimore today, it could be your

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Speaker 2: district next, and we always do best when we pull

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Speaker 2: together and support any one part of our country that's

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Speaker 2: hurting you.

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Speaker 1: Said earlier in the White House briefing. The most immediate

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Speaker 1: jobs or channel clean up and reopening. Part of that,

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Speaker 1: of course, is going to be moving the Dolly itself,

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Speaker 1: which I know is a very delicate matter. Do you

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Speaker 1: have any sense, though, of how long it will take

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Speaker 1: to free the forty sum ships we understand are trapped

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Speaker 1: in the port.

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Speaker 2: I think it will take a while, and those are

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Speaker 2: ships that were obviously concerned about. They even include vessels

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Speaker 2: that are overseen by the Department of Transportation, though those

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Speaker 2: ships are not currently actively tasked. There are vessels that

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Speaker 2: had cargo loads on them. They are being offloaded. Also,

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Speaker 2: cruise ships that we're planning to head to Baltimore no

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Speaker 2: longer obviously going to be able to birth where they

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Speaker 2: had planned to. We just don't know yet how long

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Speaker 2: it's going to take to clear that channel. We do

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Speaker 2: know that there are other ports that are preparing to

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Speaker 2: absorb some of the traffic that's been diverted, as well

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Speaker 2: as handle some of the export cargo that had to

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Speaker 2: be diverted. We'll be watching closely to see the impacts

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Speaker 2: of that, and tomorrow I'm going to convene different players

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Speaker 2: across our supply chains, shippers, cargo owners, and workers to

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Speaker 2: better understand what they're facing and how we can help.

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Speaker 1: With regard to that meeting, Secretary, I'm glad you mentioned it.

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Speaker 1: You talked to the about the Freight Office that you

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Speaker 1: created during the pandemic and the supply chain crisis that

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Speaker 1: I know the Administration has spent a lot of time

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Speaker 1: on that office has been busy working with supply chain

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Speaker 1: stakeholders in this case to reappropriate I presume routes and destinations.

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Speaker 1: Do you have a plan now for cars for coal

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Speaker 1: to land in other ports on the East Coast.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. What we're seeing right now is other ports are

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Speaker 2: preparing to absorb some of those shipments. It really depends, though,

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Speaker 2: on the type of shipment. Containers obviously pretty standardized. A

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Speaker 2: lot of places are equipped to handle shipping containers, but

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Speaker 2: this is also a significant port for sugar. There are

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Speaker 2: only so many places that can handle that particular type

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Speaker 2: of shipment. There are other specific types of ship that

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Speaker 2: we're tracking to. That's exactly why we're so glad that

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Speaker 2: this Freight office is up and running. This was created

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Speaker 2: by the President's by PARS and Infrastructure package. We stood

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Speaker 2: it up in accordance with that legislation, and it is

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Speaker 2: coming in handy. It's already been helpful navigating some of

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Speaker 2: the disruptions on the Red Sea due to HOOKI attacks,

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Speaker 2: and this is just one more case where it's showing

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Speaker 2: the value of that coordination. This is not air traffic control.

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Speaker 2: There's no one tower, so to speak, or authority that

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Speaker 2: tells ships where to go the way you have for aircraft.

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Speaker 2: They are independent actors. We're bringing them to the table

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Speaker 2: to make sure that they're better coordination. We're not trying

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Speaker 2: to take over, but we want to make sure everybody's

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Speaker 2: talking to each other.

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Speaker 1: I only have a minute left, Secretary. I appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time today. You said earlier this is not going to

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Speaker 1: be simple, quick or easy. Do you have any idea

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Speaker 1: how many years it will be before vehicles are crossing

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Speaker 1: a new bridge in Baltimore.

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Speaker 2: It's simply too soon to say. But what I will

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Speaker 2: say is we are going to work aggressively to support

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Speaker 2: Maryland doing that as quickly as they safely and responsibly

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Speaker 2: can learn more very soon about the condition of the

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Speaker 2: portions of the bridge that did not collapse and the

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Speaker 2: condition of some of the infrastructure that is below the waterline.

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Speaker 2: That will help to inform and ask THEMIT of what

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Speaker 2: it's going to take, but just too soon to put

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Speaker 2: a date on it.

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Speaker 1: The Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buddha Jeedge with us live

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Speaker 1: from a rainy North Lawn at the White House. Mister Secretary,

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Speaker 1: thanks for your time again today on Bloomberg