GBCPA Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2003
CONTACT: Katie Chimenti, 281-326-3343
Nancy Edmonson, 281-471-4567


What Does the Coastal Coordination Council
Have to Do with Bayport?

Most people have come to the conclusion that there are only two power players in the fight over the proposed mega-container port at Bayport: the Port of Houston Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Port is the developer, and the Corps is the permitting agency.
    But there is a third body holding power in this equation, according to the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association(GBCPA), and that body is the Coastal Coordination Council.
    Created just a few years ago, the council is responsible for the Texas Coastal Zone Management Plan and is charged with ensuring coordination in the work of different agencies and developers so as to preserve the treasures of the coast. It thus has the power to prevent actions damaging to coastal resources.

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    As more and more of the nation's coast became developed, Congress created the Coastal Zone Management Program to oversee coastal projects by cities, industry, transportation interests, and agencies responsible for natural resources. Under federal law, a state's decision to join the Coastal Zone Management Program is voluntary.
    To join the program, the state must create a coastal zone management plan, submit it to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and then set about bringing it into force. Texas joined in the early 1990s.
    "The Coastal Coordination Council has the task of ensuring a sound legacy of conservation all along the Texas coast, " said Katie Chimenti, vice chair of GBCPA. "But so far it has largely worked in the background and avoided controversy. As a result, its real trajectory and its effectiveness as a coastal watchdog body remain to be seen."
    In theory, the CCC must review all major coastal construction projects and insist that they do not damage the integrity of the coastal environment. In practice so far, the CCC has not conducted its own project reviews but has merely created a set of rules and passed these to other agencies, such as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The intent is that those other agencies, during their project reviews, will make sure that activities will abide by the CCC rules.
    "The proposed Bayport project is a pending test case," said Chimenti. "Should the Corps of Engineers issue a permit for this proposal that has drawn such very sharp and widespread public opposition, the CCC still has to authorize that permit for it to take effect. GBCPA and local cities have challenged the Corps of Engineers for biased actions and have also filed suit against the Corps. Has the CCC been listening to the public outcry?"

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    The reasons for citizen opposition to the Bayport proposal include the negative water quality impacts of a very large container port and the destruction of extensive wetlands on the thousand-acre site. Proposed mitigation for the wetlands losses is located far from the coast.
    Citizens are also concerned that following enormous investment in new port construction so high up the bay, the Port Authority would soon be calling to support that investment with further channel deepening for larger ships. A deeper channel would compromise bay resources with increased salinity.
    "The Texas Council on Environmental Quality is tasked with water quality issues statewide, but the CCC is supposed to focus specifically on coastal water quality and wetlands issues--exactly the kinds of problems arising at Bayport," said Nancy Edmonson, also of GBCPA.
    Appointed by the governor, the CCC is chaired by the chief of the Texas General Land Office. Other CCC members include the railroad commissioner, representatives from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and several other state agencies, plus three citizen representatives.
    "We have not yet seen the CCC seriously flex their muscle on behalf of the coast," Edmonson noted. "We look forward to seeing what they can do."
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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