GBCPA Press
Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 28, 2003 CONTACT: Katie
Chimenti, 281-326-3343 Nancy Edmonson 281-471-4567
Bayport Permit
Illegal
The permit Texas City received last week to build a new
container port at Shoal Point should mean that no permit can now legally be
issued for a new port at Bayport, according to the Galveston Bay Conservation
and Preservation Association (GBCPA). "In the
Bayport permit application, Texas City is among the alternative sites under
consideration for a regional container port," said GBCPA Vice Chair Katie
Chimenti. "Texas City has been issued its permit by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. We submit that in view of this, the Bayport project is now
moot." Under the guidelines of the
Environmental Protection Agency, a permit cannot be issued unless the site
selected produces the least damage to the environment among the viable
alternative locations. "The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers has found that Shoal Point is the least environmentally damaging site
in the Record of Decision on the Texas City application," said GBCPA Chair Jim
Blackburn. "Because Shoal Point is also an alternative to the Bayport project,
the Corpsı finding in one application should be binding in the other, thereby
prohibiting the issuance of the Bayport project permit under the 404(b)(1)
guidelines."
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3
The Port of Houston Authority formally
filed its application for a permit to build at Bayport nearly five years ago, on
October 8, 1998. Since then the Port has submitted several revised permit
applications. A "scoping meeting" to identify
issues of concern on the proposed Bayport project--part of the Environmental
Impact Statement process--was held in August of 1999. It drew an unprecedented
crowd of close to 3,000 people, most of them sharply opposing the plan.
As work progressed on the draft EIS for Bayport,
Shoal Point in Texas City was viewed as a prime alternative because it consists
of dredge spoil and would thus avoid having any impacts on natural coastal
prairie and wetlands. It is also flanked by industry and remote from residential
development, meaning that traffic and air quality impacts recede in importance.
In April of 2000 Texas City submitted its own
application for a permit to build a container port at Shoal Point on the Texas
City Ship Channel. This placed the Corps in the unaccustomed position of having
the same alternative sites under consideration in two permit applications.
Attendance at the scoping meeting for the Texas City
EIS amounted to only 200 people. Even those who expressed concerns also
indicated their support of the project and their appreciation for the spirit of
openness surrounding it. Since private investors are
backing the Texas City plan, it does not require public funding. The investors
partnering with Texas City are Stevedoring Services of America and Americana
Ships. The Port of Houston Authority, however, is relying upon port bonds
supported by property tax dollars to build its proposed mega-container port at
Bayport.
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In a letter to the Corps of Engineers,
Texas City Mayor Carlos Garza said the City "has consciously endeavored to keep
the public informed on the project and encourage public comment." He gave the
Corps explicit authority to make available to the public all data related to the
EIS and the permitting process. By contrast, citizens have often struggled to
get clear information about the Bayport plan from the Port and the Corps of
Engineers. "Notice that while the Port of
Houston Authority has been spending plenty of money on public relations, itıs
Texas City that gets the permit," said Chimenti. "It has been just three years
from Texas Cityıs application to the issuing of the permit last week. All
indications are that there is plenty of substance to our claim that a permit for
Bayport would now be illegal."
--30-- Galveston Bay Conservation and
Preservation Association P.O. Box 323, Seabrook, Texas 77586 Phone:
281-326-3343 Website: www.gbcpa.net E-mail: gbcpa@ev1.net