Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - House OKs funds for Packery dredging studies

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Thursday, July 29, 1999

House OKs funds for Packery dredging studies
When feasibility studies are completed, issue can be revisited if community chooses
By Jessica Wehrman
Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON - The House approved an appropriations bill Wednesday including $100,000 in funding for the dredging of Packery Channel.
   The money would pay for feasibility studies that need to be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine whether the project is necessary. The studies must be completed before any work could be done.
   "We have kept the door open for the project," said Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. By completing the feasibility studies, he said, the option remains to approach the dredging issue again if the community ever decides that dredging the channel is necessary.
   The plan to dredge an 11-foot channel from the Gulf to the bridge at State Highway 361 was part of a $38.5 million bond package that would have also raised the JFK Causeway and built a 200-acre county fairground in Robstown. The bond package was defeated in mid-June by voters, 53 percent to 47 percent.
   Those bonds would have funded $10.5 million of the project. An additional $19.5 million would have come from the federal government.
   On the Senate side, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has been fighting for the money.
   Gary Bushell, president and CEO of the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance, said the federal funding was a good thing. The two funding tracks - local and federal - are independent of one another and will continue to be, he said.
   "It allows us to continue our study of the issues that the Corps feels needs to be answered," he said. "So it's good news from the standpoint of moving the project forward."
   Getting federal money for the project is a two-part process. First, Congress must agree to allow the money to be spent. Then it must earmark the funds.
   The first step passed both houses of Congress earlier this year. Both the House and Senate are now trying to work out differences in their respective bills. The House version of that bill did not specify any dollar amounts. The Senate version allowed $19.5 million to be spent on the project, requiring $10.5 million in matching funds from Nueces County.
   As for the second step, the Senate in June supported $150,000 for studies on the project. The House's vote Wednesday signified the second step of the House efforts.
   Part of Hutchison's legislative efforts this year also have been to complete Corps of Engineers studies to clear the way for the project.
   "What I have said all along is I wanted to make sure the feasibility studies were done, and if the local people want to go forward, that we would be ready from the federal level," Hutchison said in June.

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