January 23, 2003

Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association

Representatives of three cities protested the Port of Houston Authority's proposed Bayport container megaport and the negative impacts it would have for the area at last week's State of the Bay symposium held in League City.

Seabrook Mayor Robin Riley and City Council Member Mike Laible; Shoreacres Mayor Nancy Edmonson and Taylor Lake Village Mayor Natalie O'Neill all spoke in opposition to Bayport as the site for a new container terminal.

"Small town governments do not have the resources...or organizations in place to fight very long and protracted battles, and the resource agencies charged with protecting the environment appear inaccessible or politically hogtied," complained Edmonson.

O'Neill gave a poster presentation titled "So the Mayors Went to See the Colonel," showing the timing of various actions on Bayport by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the cities fighting the plan. 

Riley outlined ecotourism initiatives in Seabrook, which has several large, wild parks, 11 miles of waterfront, and a trails network connecting the parks. He described residents' anger at finding the city under the threat of industrial sprawl when the Bayport proposal was announced, and how this galvanized the community into resisting this site for a container port.

Speakers from Houston, League City, and Webster all described large-scale projects to preserve remaining undeveloped sections of riparian (streamside) habitat in a natural condition. 

"People are pressing for more active efforts to maintain Galveston Bay as a natural asset and a community resource," said Jim Blackburn, chair of the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association.  "And not a moment too soon. Our rich estuary cannot be expected to survive endless urban-industrial assault."

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