Posted on October 15, 2018
Two companies owned by a former Port of Corpus Christi commissioner are asking a local judge to allow him access to information about a site in Ingleside owned by the port that it has reportedly been using to dump dredging material.
The companies listed on the Sept. 27 petition are The Port of Corpus Christi LP and 361 Holdings LLC, both owned by Kenneth Berry. The filing is not a lawsuit, but rather a petition seeking to have 94th District Judge Bobby Galvan grant permission for Berry’s attorneys to take oral depositions from several port representatives.
The Port of Corpus Christi LP is a private company owned by Berry, and not associated in any way with The Port of Corpus Christi Authority of Nueces County, though the latter often goes by The Port of Corpus Christi or Port Corpus Christi in marketing materials and media reports.
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The Sept. 27 petition seeks to depose the port’s chief executive officer, Sean Strawbridge, as well as port commissioners Charlie Zahn, Dick Bowers and Richard Valls Jr. These types of petitions generally serve as a precursor to a possible lawsuit.
Berry’s petition is looking to get more information on how the port has been using property known as the Good Hope Site, which the port purchased from the U.S. Navy in 2008 after Naval Station Ingleside was closed, according to the filing. The property is located between the city of Ingleside and Oxy Chemical Corp. along the La Quinta Ship Channel.
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Vessel traffic in and out of the Port of Corpus Christi will continue to climb, even if port officials are unsuccessful at widening and deepening its channel, according to a waterway study released Tuesday. (Photo: Caller-Times archive)
The port has reportedly designated and used the Good Hope Site as a dredge material placement area, according to the filing. That means sediment and other material dredged from the ship channel is placed there, and Berry is concerned that it could negatively affect adjacent property he is working with Exxon Pipeline Co. to clean up.
That Exxon land was used for industrial purposes in the past, but is vacant and has been in remediation for several years, according to the petition.
“(The Port of Corpus Christi LP) in particular has incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in its work toward the cleanup project on the Exxon Tract,” the petition states. “Any continued use by dumping on the Good Hope Site threatens to spread and increase the contamination of all property around the Good Hope Site, and possibly driving the contaminated products into Corpus Christi Bay as well.”
The filing also questions, among other things, whether the port actually has the necessary permits for the placement of dredge material at the Good Hope Site, and if existing zoning by the city of Ingleside allows for such a use. The proposed depositions will help in the gathering of information to make that determination, Berry said.
“Petitioners seek to confirm the presence or absence of the necessary permitting,” the legal filing states.
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Port officials on Monday denied suggestions that they were operating “in any way” that was inconsistent with federal or state regulations.
“The Port of Corpus Christi does not typically comment on ongoing litigation,” the port said in a statement on Thursday. “However, the Port strongly objects to any assertion that it is operating in any way contrary to State and/or Federal law.”
“The Port is familiar with the requisite permitting requirements for all aspects of Port development and operations, and is confident that it is fully compliant with all statutes,” the statement continued. “The Port will vigorously defend itself against any unfounded claims to the contrary.”
Source: Caller Times
