By JACOB LOPEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
BROWNSVILLE – Representatives with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) met in a public forum to discuss its role in developing and maintaining South Texas ports.
The Sept. 25 forum, hosted by Congressman Filemon Vela (D-TX) at Brownsville Metro on International Boulevard, focused on projects at the Port of Brownsville and the Port of Harlingen as well as the Brownsville Public Utility Board (Resaca Restoration Project) and the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District (PISBND).
In attendance for the USACE was Colonel Richard Pannell, District Engineer and Commanding Officer, Southwestern Division.
PISBND Port Director Steven Bearden said, “The four ports made a short presentation about our relationship with the Corps, and what all is going on with the ports.”
The Corps then gave its own program to explain its role. The forum was meant for the public to gain an understanding of the activity occurring between the ports and the USACE.
“Funding is one of the major issues,” said Bearden, explaining that the Corps operates under federal budget cycles, and the four ports together are under one budget item. “We, just like everybody else, are competing for those funds. We need a lot of dredging done, and funding is a major issue.”
Dredging is the removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of a body of water. This is done to maintain or increase depth of the channels so that vessels can navigate through them.
The formula that the USACE uses to designate funding, Bearden said, depends highly on the amount of cargo going in and out.
“We have a need for dredging in the Brownsville ship channel that starts at the mouth of the Jetties, and goes all the down to our channel that turns into the turning basin and continues on up into Brownsville,” said Bearden, adding that “there’s a lot of dredging to be done there, and there’s only so many dollars in the pool available.”
The ports compete for funds against Corpus Christi and Victoria, “whereas Victoria’s tripled their tonnage each year in the last three years because of the Eagle Ford Shale.”
Eagle Ford Shale is an actively-drilled area for oil and gas.
“You’re talking millions of dollars to dredge,” explained Bearden, who further noted that the public likely has a better understanding of the USACE’s role with the local ports as a result of the meeting.
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