16 PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

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4 urrently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering the Port of Houston Authority s request for a permit to build the facility. Although not required by law, the Port Authority asked the U.S. Army of Engineers to perform an Environmental Impact Statement to support the decision on the permit application. "The Port Commissioners are committed to the concept that business and the environment can co-exist successfully," emphasizes Jim Edmonds, Chairman of the Port of Houston Authority. "We asked the Corps to perform an Environmental Impact Statement so that we can assure our neighbors in Galveston Bay that Bayport will be a good neighbor while providing jobs and economic growth for our region." AT ULTIMATE BUILDOUT IN 20 YEARS, BAYPORT WILL INCLUDE A 772-ACRE CONTAINER TERMINAL, A 206-ACRE CRUISE TERMINAL AND CO-DEVELOPMENT COMPLEX, AND A 124-ACRE BUFFER ZONE WITH A SIGHT AND NOISE BEAM. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working diligently on the Environmental Impact Statement since before the bond election. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District office s recent newsletter, a draft is expected in approximately seven months. "It has been a long and very thorough process," states Charlie Jenkins, the Port Authority s Bayport Project Manager. "We are being very conservative in our approach now to prevent longer and more costly delays later on." As a part of both the Environmental Impact Statement and permit processes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is performing a very careful review of alternative sites to the Port Authority s proposed location on the Bayport Channel. A total of 79 possible sites around Galveston Bay was determined. Each of the possible sites was weighed against the important qualifications of navigational access, dredging requirements, sufficient land for terminal operations, constraints to land development, existing and potential road and rail access, social and environmental impacts. Of the 79 possible sites, seven sites, including the Port Authority s choice at Bayport, met the basic criteria. These sites are: Bayport, Spilmans Island, Shoal Point, Cedar Point, and Pelican Island. In addition, the US. Army Corps of Engineers is looking at two other alternatives that are a combination of the proposed Bayport site with Shoal Point in one case, and with Upper San Jacinto Bay in the other case. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, "Conceptual terminal layouts have been developed for each of the alternative locations. These are being used to evaluate the likely impacts associated with developing the proposed terminal facilities at each site. In addition, likely transportation corridors and facility improvements that would be associated with each alternative location have been identified for evaluation of potential environmental impacts." "There is no question that a thorough factual environmental review by the Corps is an important facet in the process of the Port Authority obtaining a permit to construct Bayport," points out Chairman Edmonds. "Unsubstantiated rumors flew before and after the bond election about the impact of our facility. I am confident that a factual analysis by the Corps ALTERNATIVES TO BAYPORT RNVIRONMENTAL 18 PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

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6 / / / /! / / SEUR[AU!I BAYPORT MASTER PLAN should finally put those rumors to rest." Once the draft Environmental Impact Statement is released, there will be a period of review and comment including a public hearing on the draft as well as the permit application. A final Environmental Impact Statement is expected in December 2001 with a permit issued by March "We will be fully prepared to go out for construction bids as soon as we have a permit in hand," says Mr. Jenkins. "If the permit k issued in March 2002, we antidpate that we can begin construction in September 2002 and finish Phase 1A two years later." Designs for Phase 1A of the terminal are underway and, according to Mr. Jenkins, the process is more than half completed at this time. At ultimate buildout in 20 years, Bayport will include a 772-acre container terminal, a 206-acre cruise terminal and co-development complex, and a 124-acre buffer zone with a sight and noise berm. At the container terminal there would be 7,000 t~et of wharf for seven berths dredged to 40 feet, a container storage yard, an intermodal rail yard, truck gate facilities, a 9S-acre co-development area for warehouses and equipment depots, about 30 new buildings. and The cruise terminal will sit on 206 acres, and contain a 5,000 foot wharf, SRUISE TERMINAL 20 PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

7 five cruise berths, approximately 50 acres of parking, a divided four-lane cruise passenger access road, and five new buildings. The codevelopment area will take up 106 acres of the overall cruise terminal area, and is intended for uses such as entertainment, commercial, retail, and residential development. "Bayport is designed to support the growth Houston and the surrounding area is having," says Mr. Edmonds. "Most of the cargo that comes through the Port of Houston stays here for the use of consumers throughout the region. The ability of manufacturers to ship goods by water to a port so close to the final marketplace is one of the major reasons the Houston area is extremely affordable with a high quality of life. "If we did nothing, the cargo would still be coming to the Houston area to meet consumer demand. Of course, it would come here by some other means, such as by truck, for a much higher cost both financially and environmentally." PHASE I OF BAYPORT

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