Port of Houston dredge plans near HYC, public comments needed by 6/4

[ChrisK]

Thanks for the updates! Did the right thing. Sent my letter. I hope everyone has done the same. You can still sneak in a fax last minute. 409-766-6301 
Keep us informed sailmom

[Bee]

Yeah, I blasted my letter in as well, but cynical Old Phart, does not think it will mater.  These guys are intent on destroying the bay in the guise of greening the planet.  Anything else would be socialist. Nothing we can do.

[Charles]

It would appear that the environmentalists are against the project, so that is a powerful group to get around.  At Ft. Hood, a few years ago, the environmentalists made the Army stop shooting in certain parts of Ft. Hood because they were disturbing the nesting sites of some obscure bird that likes to nest in cedar trees!  You never know!

[Bee]

I received a blah, blah, blah, blah, letter from the Army AKA Denise Sloan today.

I now know that a public hearing has not been scheduled.

Ain't that wonderful?

[Jonsey]

Ya, shook my ceiling fan too.   yay tree-huggers (uh, did i just say that?)

It would appear that the environmentalists are against the project, so that is a powerful group to get around.  At Ft. Hood, a few years ago, the environmentalists made the Army stop shooting in certain parts of Ft. Hood because they were disturbing the nesting sites of some obscure bird that likes to nest in cedar trees!  You never know!

[Eric713]

Maybe we need to carry birds on our boats!

[Emma]

Update from HYC:

Just a quick update on the dredge disposal proposal under consideration by the Port of Houston and the US Army Corps of Engineers. As of July 24th the Port of Houston has not received a complete file of the comments submitted to the Corps by the July 5th deadline. Upon receiving and reviewing the comments the Port Staff will be preparing a recommendation on the path forward to the Port Commission. It is likely that this recommendation will be on the Port Commission agenda at the regular August 28th meeting. As I have previously reported, we are optimistic that the recommendation will be to eliminate the new disposal location out of the permit application and the Port will focus on the existing permit areas. In the meantime the Port Commission continues to receive comments from interested parties. The committee we have in place continues its work in raising awareness with elected officials and other key stakeholders. More information can be found at www.ourgalvestonbay.com.

[sailmom]

August 15 - 1:30 - POHA Board Room!!  Please attend!

The POHA Commission is planning a workshop, or special meeting, where the details of the dredging will be discussed.  This is open to the public. 

Port of Houston Authority Executive Office Building, 111 East Loop North

[DollFin]

I just saw a post on Facebook from Pat Gibson saying that POHA has withdrawn the "BU Marsh" option!!!

[Emma]

Some good news!
Big Thanks to everyone who sent letters and emails!

POHA withdraws ?BU Marsh? as a disposal option

The Port Commission, at its August 15, 2012 meeting, direct the withdrawal of DMP Alternative 2, New Beneficial Use Marsh, as a disposal alternative pursuant to United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Permit Application SWG-2011-01183 for Bayport Ship Channel (BSC) improvements, authorize the Executive Director to respond to USACE and public comments to such application consistently with such direction, and further authorize the Executive Director to do any and all things in his opinion reasonable or necessary to give effect to the foregoing.

more details at:  http://ourgalvestonbay.com/2012/08/15/poha-withdraws-bu-marsh-as-a-disposal-option/

[ChrisK]

Wow! This is GREAT news!!  Thanks to everyone who took the time to make this happen!

[sailmom]

One more email please!!

http://ourgalvestonbay.com/take-action/

The Guidry news article covering the meeting includes full audio of the discussion.  One commissioner proposed that they pass a resolution that would prevent some variation of this proposal from appearing in the future, but the full panel was reluctant to commit to that extent.  Please send, and ask your friends to send, one more email to thank them and to ask that a future resolution be considered.

The email template makes this a 2-minute task!

Thank you so much *everyone* for helping make this happen.

[sailmom]

on ABC news: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8775328