WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security is inviting eight

highest-risk port regions to compete for some $120 million in port security

grants, according to the American Association of Port Authorities.

The agency's Office of Grants and Training has divided ports into four

tiers based on risk to divide a total of $210 million in security grants

that Congress approved in Homeland Security's fiscal 2007 budget. DHS on

Tuesday announced a total of $445 million for all local, and state security

grants.

Homeland Security has designated eight regions as Tier I, the highest risk,

and allotted a portion of the grant money to each. Ports in San Francisco

Bay, including Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond and Stockton, will compete

for $11.2 million.

All ports in other tiers will compete for the allotted money. Tier II ports

will compete for $40.2 million; Tier III ports, $30.2 million, and Tier IV

ports, $10 million.

The American Association of Port Authorities noted that the grant money for

2007 is 20 percent more that what DHS allocated in 2006, but falls short of

the $400 million that Congress authorized.

The eight Tier I port groups and the available grants are listed below:

     * New York-New Jersey: $27.1 million

     * New Orleans, including Plaquemines, Baton Rouge, and South

Louisiana: $17.3 million.

     * Houston-Galveston: $15.7 million.

     * Los Angeles-Long Beach: $14.7 million.

     * Puget Sound, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Anacortes, Wash., $12.2

million.

     * Delaware Bay (Philadelphia, Wilmington, Del., and Southern New

Jersey): $11.3 million.

     * San Francisco Bay: $11.2 million.

     * Sabine-Neches River, Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas: $10.9 million.