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Saturday, August 14, 1999
Port presents dredging plan, will hear comments
Report looks at engineering, habitat impact of improvements
By Andrea Jares
Caller-Times
Who: the Port of Corpus Christi and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
What: Public hearing on proposed ship channel improvements
When: 7-9 p.m. Thursday Where: Omni Bayfront Hotel, Corpus Christi Ballroom C, 900 N. Shoreline Blvd.
For more information: www.portofcorpuschristi.com/Portweb/NewInit/chimp.htm
When the Port of Corpus Christi finished dredging its ship channel to 45 feet in 1989, it was among the deepest in the United States. Ten years later, the port is studying a plan to take the channel down another five feet, which would again make it among the deepest.
The port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the dredging of the port, will present information Thursday on the proposed deepening of the port and hear public comments.
The port's plan is to dredge the ship channel, widen the channel from 400 feet to 500 feet, add 12-foot-deep barge lanes and extend La Quinta Channel on the north side of the bay by 8,000 feet. Dredging could begin as early as 2003.
The process of getting a permit for dredging a ship channel takes so many years that the port started looking to go to 50 feet in 1990. In June, the port and the corps launched a three-year feasibility study of the $150 million in proposed channel expansions.
The $6 million feasibility study explores environmental aspects of the channel improvements and assesses whether all will be necessary. For example, the port may dredge to less than 50 feet or only deepen parts of the ship channel, said Greg Brubeck, deputy director of engineering services at the port.
The deeper channel would offer the port a competitive advantage over shallower ports. Ships can be bigger or loaded more heavily with cargo, making it more economical to deliver more products per shipment.
"The deeper we are, the cheaper we are," Brubeck said.
At the hearing, the port is expecting to hear comments about the environmental impact of dredging millions of cubic yards of the bay floor.
That dredge material could be deposited on the northwest side of the port to elevate the land or placed in areas of the bay to raise plant life to a water height with more light, said Paul Carangelo, coastal environmental planner for the port.
"The modern view is that habitats can be created with it," Carangelo said.
At the meeting, port and Corps of Engineers representatives will explain the feasibility study's evaluation of the salinity, effects of the tide, possibility of soil contamination and shoreline erosion on Corpus Christi Bay. The feasibility study will evaluate the best use of the dredge material, and the port will hear the public's opinion, Carangelo said.
The port and the corps sponsored a similar public forum in July 1998 to hear opinions on what the feasibility should entail.
Business writer Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by e-mail at jaresa@caller.com
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