PORT OF HOUSTON FIRM ON TERMINAL AT BAYPORT LOCATION

PORT OF HOUSTON FIRM ON TERMINAL AT BAYPORT LOCATION    In a meeting with the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association, Port of Houston Authority Chairman James T. Edmonds stood firm on Bayport as the best location for a future container and cruise ship terminal.
   “Bayport is the right location for the port’s proposed container and cruise terminal, environmentally, financially and socially,” Edmonds said.
   The conservation group’s chairman, James Blackburn, had proposed the container and cruise ship terminal be built either at Spilman Island or Texas City. Edmonds described both sites as “impractical.”
   Edmonds said Spilman Island is a designated dredge disposal site for the next 50 years and would require “tens of millions of dollars, and an unknown number of years” to develop.
   “While we do believe that with the continued development of container shipping (at Texas City) will be a demand for more container berths than the Bayport Terminal will provide, there is a simple reason why the port cannot build its development at the site — it is in Galveston County and our Harris County general obligation bond funds passed by the voters in 1999 cannot be used in Galveston County,” Edmonds said.
   “All of the ports in the U.S. Gulf face the same challenge — if we do not build added capacity, the ships will not come. We stand to lose jobs that will never return. This is not something to be taken lightly, particularly today,” Edmonds said. “We continue to believe that recent site studies to Bayport as the best location. We have a customer base that is ready to grow with this facility. And our commitment to the environment and neighbors is solid and unwavering.”