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A Publication of Guidry News Service |
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A Publication of Guidry News Service |
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The Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association has announced the results of a new study that it claims raises "substantial doubts" about claims by the Port of Houston Authority that Spillman's Island is too expensive to develop for a container port. GBCPA contends that Spillman's Island should be considered as an alternative to Bayport as a site for a mega-container terminal. The new
analysis indicates that the island is predominantly " fast
land" and development should be much less expensive than
indicated by the port. "This
casts doubt over the Port of Houston Authority's claim that
stabilizing Spillman's Island would be prohibitively
expensive," said Katie Chimenti, vice chair of GBCPA,
which has led the challenge against the Bayport location.
"It appears that over most of the island, site
preparation would be relatively straightforward, " she
said. Spillman's Island is a natural island, approximately triangular in shape. It lies beside the Houston Ship Channel between the container terminal at Barbour's Cut and the Fred Hartmann Bridge connecting La Porte and Baytown. The foot of the bridge is at the north end of the island. Wilkinson notes that sediment cones presumed to be centers of spoil disposal from ship channel dredging covered less than 5 percent of the island in 1970. The appearance of most of the island was consistent with that of neighboring vegetated land. By 2000 sediment cones covered closer to 10 percent of the island surface, and much of the rest showed a pale layer of sediment outflow. Direct visual observations in 2003 revealed water on lower portions of the island, impounded by the perimeter levees. Spoil disposal pipes were in place. Wilkinson concludes although the cones are some 23 feet high in places, they drop off sharply to the low central island surface, and he estimates levee thickness at only about 20 feet. Thus the area of thicker sediment is small. By preventing rapid drainage of rainwater and water in the dredge slurry pumped onto the island, the cones and levees have created the water bodies visible at low points of the terrain. "The
outflow of fine material from the spoil deltas appears to
occupy much of the island, but is probably only a few feet
thick at maximum," said Wilkinson in his report.
"Although it might be assumed that the wet central
parts of Spillman's Island would require more stabilization
than the higher ground before construction could occur, the
reverse is likely true. The low central parts of the island
are those with the thinnest dredge spoil sediments." A
simple system of trenches could drain the For the full GBCPA report and a cross section diagram, visit http://www.gbcpa.org/Publications/Spillman's_Geomorphology.pdf Two other recent assessments have contended that the port's early rejection of Spillman's Island as a feasible alternative to Bayport was unwarranted. According to a study by transportation analyst Nancy Edmonson in January, port plans for a facility of nearly 1,000 acres are outmoded by contrast with the more much smaller size of other modern U.S. container ports with through-put capacity similar to that planned for Bayport. Earlier, Edmonson also compared costs at Spillman's Island with cost factors unique to Bayport, where additional transportation infrastructure for both road and rail service to a new port would add expenses of some $209 million. Both the Edmonson studies can be seen at http://www.gbcpa.org/publications.htm
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