The search and rescue exhibit for the National Coast Guard museum, which is still under construction in New London, Conn., is seen in 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard)
NEW LONDON, Conn. (Tribune News Service) — If the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House of Representatives this week gains final approval, it would allow the U.S. Coast Guard for the first time to directly fund the $150 million National Coast Guard Museum project being constructed on the city’s waterfront.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., said Thursday that the $900 billion defense bill, which passed in the House on Wednesday in a 312-112 bipartisan vote but still needs Senate and presidential approval, would essentially remove a decades-long funding barrier erected in the wake of a landmark — and nationally lambasted — eminent domain decision.
The Fort Trumbull area in the late 1990s was cleared of homes and businesses as part of a plan developed by the city and the New London Development Corp. to help jump-start economic development in association with the construction of Pfizer’s research headquarters.
That led to a bitter fight in which the refusal by a handful of property owners — including lead plaintiff Susette Kelo — to sell their land culminated in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. New London. The court ruled in favor of New London and its use of eminent domain to seize the properties for private development.
That case was unfolding as a location was being sought for a new Coast Guard museum, Courtney said. He said some members of Congress, unhappy with New London’s handling of the Fort Trumbull issue, enacted a restriction that prevented the Coast Guard from making any appropriations to a museum built inside the city.
“And since then, there’s been ongoing gymnastics on how to resolve this statutory barrier,” Courtney said.
Courtney noted that a previous $50 million federal appropriation for the museum project secured by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., got around the funding blockade by earmarking the money for the National Coast Guard Museum Association, not the Coast Guard.
Even with that federal aid and another $52 million in donations, however, the association is roughly $48 million short. But the new bill’s language creates a pathway to close that gap, Courtney said.
“It would allow the use of direct, existing funding by the Coast Guard itself, which recently got billions for capital improvements through a reconciliation bill, to support final museum construction work,” Courtney said, referring to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which commits $25 billion to the Coast Guard for various operational, training and infrastructure upgrades.
Courtney cautioned that there have not yet been any funding commitments from the Coast Guard, though its leaders did not oppose removing the funding block.
The museum association’s president, Wes Pulver, said Thursday that the group does not comment on pending legislation, but said he and others “appreciated the continuing support of the Connecticut delegation and the bipartisan effort toward building a world-class museum.”
Pulver previously said the association was exploring entering into a construction loan and a future long-term lease agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard to cover the funding shortfall. He said the association is on track to turn the 89,000-square-foot, six-story museum over to the Coast Guard next year with an anticipated 2027 opening.
A separate but related project calls for the construction of a pedestrian bridge connecting the museum and other downtown points with the Water Street garage.
The State Bond Commission in 2018 earmarked $19.5 million for construction of the bridge, and $500,000 in state funds were previously approved for planning and design work. The work was initially estimated to take about 16 months.
Pulver said in October that the sole bid for the 400-foot, glass-enclosed span, from Manafort Brothers Inc., came in significantly higher than expected.
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