Dearth of Dredging

Port Mansfield had gone so long without federal money for dredging that, before it finally received a state grant last year, the harbor's mouth had silted up until it was 2 feet deep and boats risked running aground.

Coastal conditions at the Willacy County fishing village are improved after it received a $225,000 grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife to dredge the increasingly shallow passageway, and after the port scraped together money to buy its own dredge.

But federal money still is slow to arrive for Port Mansfield and the Rio Grande Valley's other ports along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway - if it ever arrives at all.

"We're all in the same boat: we either get no funds or not enough," said Eduardo Campirano, Port of Brownsville director.

Because of federal budget cuts and rising fuel and labor costs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency in charge of maintenance for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and many of its ports, has frequently postponed dredging projects in the waterway's lower reaches.

As the waters here become shallower, more vessels could end up damaged, costs to companies transporting cargo could increase, and therefore some companies might take their business elsewhere, port directors say.

"It's starting to make us extremely nervous," said Bob Cornelison, director for the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District.

One area of the port has become four feet shallower since the last dredge, and if it becomes much shallower some vessels might have difficulty passing, he said.

"All it takes is one ship that can't get through," Cornelison said.

Most Valley ports haven't seen federal funds for dredging in years. This year, only the Port of Brownsville is set to receive about $2.5 million to dredge a shallow area near the jetties, confirmed Karl Brown, operations manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Galveston District. Brownsville received $5 million for routine dredging in 2007, but the other ports received no funding.

Money to dredge the waterway itself below Corpus Christi also has proved scarce. Of the $22 million tentatively allotted for maintenance of the Texas portion of the waterway in 2008, none will go toward dredging south of Corpus Christi, Brown said.

Each year, the Army Corps of Engineers requests money to dredge this portion of the waterway, but rarely receives the amount requested, Brown said. Once the federal budget passes, the agency then prioritizes port- and waterway-dredging projects based on tonnage, or ship cargo, he said.

"The areas with the most tonnage always get funded first," Brown said.

An average of about 46 million tons of cargo travels from Port Arthur to Houston, compared to 2.5 million tons from Corpus Christi to Brownsville, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Port of Harlingen hasn't received funding for dredging in five years, and before long vessels that pass through the port might be forced to lighten their loads, Port Director W.G. "Butch" Palmer said.

"I think it's going to become a nuisance pretty soon," Palmer said.

Shoaling in Port Mansfield is sometimes dangerous for boats, said Mike Wilson, port director. A sailboat capsized and sank last summer near the jetties. In January, another boat sank because of rough waters in the channel, he said.

"Because of the shallow water, waves start breaking in the channel, and that's dangerous," he said.

No one has been injured, but boats have been damaged, Wilson said.

Other port directors say they've seen few accidents related to shoaling, but are concerned about the potential for accidents and the impact of dwindling dredging funds on the Valley's economy.

In response, the region's port directors headed to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to request additional dredging money.

"We thought if we worked together, we might have a better chance (of obtaining funding)," Campirano said.

Palmer, of the Port of Harlingen, said he's waiting to see if the D.C. visit will bear fruit.

"If something happens, it will be worth it," Palmer said.

Perhaps ironically, the Army Corps of Engineers' less-frequent dredging in recent years has benefited the Lower Laguna Madre's environment.

Until the mid-1990s, the corps regularly deposited dredged material, sucked from the intracoastal waterway, into the bay.

Environmental groups protested, saying the piles of mud prevented seagrasses from growing and affected aquatic life. In 1994, the National Audubon Society and other organizations sued the Army Corps of Engineers, saying a more thorough environmental-impact study was needed.

The case was dismissed with the corps' agreement to look at alternatives for dredge-material disposal. The corps chose several spots near the waterway that were less environmentally sensitive, according to its 2002 dredged material management plan.

Then, the funds for dredging in the waterway's lower reach dwindled.

"It made it almost a moot point," said Walt Kittelberger, president of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, one of the groups that opposed the disposal of dredged material in the bay.

In recent years, the seagrasses have flourished in the Laguna Madre, Kittelberger said.

That doesn't mean, however, that the region's ports and the intracoastal waterway don't need dredging, he said. Although the Laguna Madre is better off, the Valley as a whole isn't, he said.

"We're just forgotten - the money stops in Corpus Christi," Kittelberger said. "Whatever comes south comes in drips and drabs ... and it's irresponsible."