VPA’s Craney Island development passes regulatory hurdle

VPA’s Craney Island development passes regulatory hurdle    The effort to develop the Port of Virginia’s Craney Island into the fourth state-owned deepwater marine terminal took another step forward Tuesday, the port said, with the approval to release the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS) on the project.
   The EIS now goes for a final round of review by state and federal agencies.
   “We see this decision as very favorable to our efforts to develop Craney Island,” said J. Robert Bray, VPA’s executive director, in a statement. “The review process for a project like this takes time, but we’re moving forward through the proper channels. To have approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Review Board to continue this process is a critical step.”
   On Tuesday, VPA representatives and officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Norfolk office traveled to Washington, D.C., to present the case for the eastward expansion of Craney Island. Among the benefits of developing the marine terminal, the port said, would be an estimated $6 billion savings to the nation over 50 years in the cost of transporting goods from the Port of Virginia to its primary markets in the Midwest.
   The approval came as the result of a unanimous vote by the Corps’ Civil Works Review Board, a body that formulates and coordinates policy with the Secretary of the Army, federal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget.
   The EIS will be open for review and comment for 30 days, though no opening date for the review period has been set yet.