Singeltary's Galveston Bay Dredge Report, trying to save Galveston Bay. ...
Port will ask for permit to deepen channel
Port will ask for permit to deepen channel
By Kiah Collier | Tuesday, October 23, 2012 | Updated: Wednesday, October
24, 2012 11:41am
The Port of Houston Authority will apply this week for a permit allowing it
to widen and deepen the waterway leading to its oldest and largest container
terminal, Barbours Cut, between La Porte and Morgan's Point.
The port's governing body on Tuesday OK'd a proposed application to the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The $6.2 million project will expand the north edge of the Barbours Cut
Ship Channel, a tributary to the Houston Ship Channel, by 75 feet, and deepen
the now 40-foot channel by 5 feet. That will enable it to handle the influx of
larger ships expected after a wider Panama Canal opens in 2015.
The so-called post-Panamax ships carry more cargo but sit deeper in the
water.
The authority plans a larger $120 million deepening and widening project
for the channel leading to the Bayport container terminal that opened in 2007.
The authority faced significant opposition to its original permit Corps of
Engineers application for that project because of a proposal to dispose of
dredged sand and silt in a 400-plus-acre area in Galveston Bay that is heavily
trafficked by sailors.
The authority dropped the "marsh" proposal after receiving significant
pushback from recreational and environmental groups and bay-area
communities.
The sand and silt dredged from the Barbours Cut channel will be disposed of
in an existing disposal area that is nearby.
Mark Vincent, the authority's channel development director, told port
commissioners Tuesday that he doesn't expect opposition to the Barbours Cut
project but that the authority will hold a public meeting to answer questions
about the project.
Vincent said he expects to have the Bayport permit "in hand" by year's end
and one for the Barbours Cut project in less than six months.
Also Tuesday, port commissioners awarded a $14.7 million contract to
Finland-based Konecranes to purchase eight diesel-electric container-yard cranes
for the Barbours Cut Terminal.
The new cranes will replace existing cranes at the end of their "expected
life equipment life of 20 years," according to background material.
Tonnage up
Authority CEO Leonard Waterworth reported that overall tonnage for
September increased 4 percent compared with a year earlier. That includes 39
percent higher steel tonnage, which had been down in recent months.
September operating expenses were down 27 percent, while operating revenues
increased 6 percent.
Year-to-date operating expenses decreased 3 percent, while operating
revenues increased 9 percent.
Revised code of ethics
Commissioners adopted a revised code of ethics on Tuesday, which they
hadn't done since 1994. It is stricter than the old version in many cases and
provides more guidance on what constitutes conflict of interest. Adopting a
revised code of ethics was one of more than a dozen major recommendations
included in a report produced by staff of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission
after a five-month-long review of the authority's operations and policies
earlier this year.
The review was called for by local elected officials after the authority
became embroiled in an ethics saga that resulted in the resignation of then CEO
Alec Dreyer. The Harris County District Attorney's Office investigated, but
cleared Dreyer of any wrongdoing. He resigned in December, saying he felt
stymied by the political tangles of the job.
kiah.collier@chron.com twitter.com/kiahcollier
I guess they got one permit stipulating one height for the toxic dredge
dump behind our house, and since the people in shore acres, and yacht club,
didn’t want another toxic dump, they got them to just make that island behind
our house bigger with another permit? I guess the next big hurricane all that
mess will be in our backyard. I went and bought 50 LBS. of shrimp yesterday at
Hillmans for the winter, they are having to bring shrimp in from Polacias,
Texas, because they are not getting any shrimp in Galveston bay. daaa, can you
see my surprised look on my face. ...something is wrong with Galveston Bay, and
it will only get worse with the continued dredging of Galveston Bay. now we are
going to get super tankers up to the Houston Ship channel. why can’t they just
stay in Galveston $ who will pay for the increased erosion of the bulkheads and
shoreline, from these bigger ships, causing bigger wave activity? I am sure the
Port of Houston, and the Army corp. of engineers already have that one all
worked out, with a ‘no responsibility clause’, and or, another permit that the
Army Corp. of engineers never following up on, like the one they did not follow
up on for the PH Robinson H L & P power plant construction permitting
process. I look for the Army Corp. of engineers just to rubber stamp another
pollution project to bolster it’s earnings at the Port of Houston. I am afraid
Galveston Bay has lost it’s battle to survive. ...
see map of island ;
Spillway inlet outlet canal Permit 5972 Hwy 146 Bacliff Texas pdf file
VIDEO FLOUNDER KILL
Galveston County BACLIFF TEXAS FLOUNDER FISH KILL MASSIVE AUGUST 11, 2012
see video of massive flounder kill with Seabreeze article September 6, 2012
;
Thousands of Flounder Killed on San Leon Bacliff Shoreline (AGAIN)
additional sources for flounder kill video;
TSS
