Rather than wait for the environmental impact statement to be issued, GBCPA put together a two-inch-thick response to the Corps's request for comments, suggesting various methodologies as well as arguing for a broader scope than that desired by the Port. GBCPA also commissioned a just-released land-use analysis that quantifies the impact of Bayport on the surrounding communities, and the group is trying to raise money for two other technical studies. One of those would be a detailed examination of air quality issues, which Blackburn and other opponents feel may ultimately be Bayport's Achilles heel.
Blackburn says he went to the GBF executive committee and asked for whatever support the foundation could lend to the various efforts. "GBF was basically unavailable to help us," he says. "In the fight against Bayport, we have had to resurrect the coalition that started the foundation, [but] outside of the foundation."
Steve Lowry
Looking for the win-win: GBF executive director Linda Shead.
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Galveston Bay Foundation has taken the lead on one Bayport-related issue: public participation. When the project was first sprung on an unsuspecting public last year as a done deal, GBF wrote a letter that, among other feedback, questioned the total lack of public involvement in the planning process. Ignored for six months, the foundation reiterated its desire for "full public involvement in the planning process Š facilitated by a non-interested third party."
Finally, the Port created a Citizen's Advisory Panel to bring together those who had a stake in the port and the bay. The panel included a few citizens and a number of economic development groups such as the Greater Houston Partnership and the Asian American Chamber of Commerce. Excluded from the group were the communities of El Lago and Taylor Lake Village, both of which, though clearly affected by Bayport, had strongly opposed the container terminal. The facilitator hired by the Port was John Hall, a former TNRCC chairman who has lobbied extensively for the petrochemical industry. The Port controlled the agenda.
Perhaps stung by the obvious sham assembled for GBF's benefit, Linda Shead wrote a pointed letter on August 3 to Port executive director Tom Kornegay. She informed him that the GBF executive committee wanted "to convey our extreme disappointment" with the Port. "As the current advisory group does not have a defined mission, we can only conclude that its only purpose is to add some bells and whistles to the Bayport project, and not to conduct a wide-open evaluation of container options in Galveston Bay."
The strength of the statement gave reason for optimism to GBF's critics. "The Port has taken advantage of the foundation, and I think the foundation has had about enough of it," says Jim Blackburn. "I hope that's the case."
Given GBF's recommendations that the process be more public and open to revision, it's hard to see how the Port could possibly meet all of them, especially since the fully developed plan has already been unveiled. The odds of the Port granting GBF's request for regional planning seem equally remote, unless the foundation is willing to wait two decades.
Though most executive committee members are remaining neutral pending further details, at least a few seem to realize the Port has pushed GBF closer to taking a definitive position on Bayport. "There's still a lot of unknowns about this," says executive committee member Harless Benthul, who has expressed little enthusiasm for Bayport. "To have a firm position, I'd like to have those answered. If we don't get those answered, it's hard for me to support it because of all the potential impacts."
GBF trustee Bartos agrees, perhaps foreshadowing a move toward as close to a consensus on Bayport as will ever realistically happen. "The Port has come to the public with a project that is already written in stone," he says. "I'm thinking that the way things are going, at the end of the day all of the opposition groups are going to be together on this."
Contact Bob Burtman at bob_burtman@houstonpress.com.
