GBCPA Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2005
CONTACT: Katie Chimenti, 281-286-9750
Nancy Edmonson, 281-471-4567
Lawsuits Challenge the Bayport Permit in Two Ways
Two lawsuits challenging the legality of the Bayport container terminal project remain firmly in progress, although a third legal action that had a minor Bayport component was recently dropped.
A coalition of cities and citizens' groups spearheaded by the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association (GBCPA) has ongoing cases in both state and federal court.
"The 10,000 people who live within two miles of the project site have yet to receive a fair hearing," said Nancy Edmonson, mayor of Shoreacres. "We are committed to ensuring that we get it."
The federal case is an appeal to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans, challenging the Port of Houston Authority's Bayport permit on the grounds that it violates federal environmental laws protecting estuaries. This appeal is intended to reverse a May 2004 federal district court decision in Houston that upheld the permit issued to the Port of Houston Authority by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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Lawsuits Challenge the Bayport Permit, 2 of 3
Plaintiffs making up the coalition are the cities of Shoreacres, Seabrook, Taylor Lake Village, and El Lago, plus GBCPA, the Houston Yacht Club, Galveston Bay Foundation, Gulf Restoration Network (based in New Orleans), Texas Committee on Natural Resources, and the seafood professionals' organization PISCES. Attorneys for the City of Seabrook are Strasburger and Price; those for Shoreacres are Blackburn and Carter.
The second case is in state court, against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), charging that this agency's certification of the Bayport permit was improper. Shoreacres is the lead plaintiff, and others are the Cities of Seabrook and Taylor Lake Village and GBCPA.
TCEQ certification is a required step under the provisions of the Texas Coastal Management Program, which is designed to coordinate local, state, and federal activity in managing coastal resources. The 1,000-acre Bayport project would have wide-ranging impacts on wetlands, Galveston Bay water quality, and coastal communities.
GBCPA Chair Jim Blackburn has said the Coastal Management Program of the state of Texas has been rendered meaningless by certification that amounts to rubberstamping.
"We have sound cases in both state and federal court," said GBCPA Vice Chair Katie Chimenti. "Legal action is a slow, but we are by no means backing off." Both cases are expected to heard during first half of 2005.
The Galveston-Houston Assocation for Smog Prevention (GHASP) and GBCPA recently dropped a third lawsuit that had a Bayport component. This suit charged that TCEQ was in violation of the Clean Air Act by ignoring a May 2004 deadline for providing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with a plan to reduce Houston's air pollution.
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Lawsuits Challenge the Bayport Permit, 3 of 3
The Bayport connection was that the issuing of a construction permit for the container port assumed a plan to reduce air pollution was in place, when in fact no plan had been adopted. The lawsuit was dropped because TCEQ did finally adopt a plan in December of 2004.
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Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association
P.O. Box 323, Seabrook, Texas 77586
Phone: 281-326-3343
Website: http://www.gbcpa.net
E-mail: gbcpa@ev1.net