Monday, October 29, 2012
Making a difference
The lack of transparency and disregard for public input regarding the County’s decision to give its blessing to the proposed Central Texas Airport has proven to be a colossal miscalculation. Citizens were rightfully outraged that they had been given no voice in a project that could so negatively impact personal lives, public safety and environmental quality. Would the public ever have a say?
The first significant opportunity came when the USACE posted a Public Notice on March 25, 2011 which requested public comments regarding the Permit Application for the CTA. The initial comment period was for 30 days and then extended until May 9. This section of the Public Notice provided some encouragement to those who were overlooked in the County’s decision-making process:
PUBLIC INTEREST REVIEW FACTORS: This application will be reviewed in accordance with 33 CFR 320-331, the Regulatory Program of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and other pertinent laws, regulations, and executive orders. Our evaluation will also follow the guidelines published by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to Section 404 (b)(1) of the CWA. The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact, including cumulative impact, of the proposed activity on the public interest. That decision will reflect the national concerns for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the proposal must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors which may be relevant to the proposal will be considered, including its cumulative effects. Among the factors addressed are conservation, economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historic properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shore erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food and fiber production, mineral needs, considerations of property ownership, and, in general, the needs and welfare of the people.
The USACE is soliciting comments from the public; federal, state, and local agencies and officials; Indian Tribes; and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the USACE in determining whether to issue, issue with modifications, or conditions, or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this decision, comments are used to assess impacts on endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.
The most recently obtained document summarizing the October 25 meeting between the developers of the CTA, their consultants and the Corps confirms that the above paragraphs were not just empty window-dressing.
Preparing comments is not an easy task; one for which not many have the time or inclination. But the citizens of Bastrop County took the opportunity and it paid off.
Let this be a lesson that citizens CAN make a difference. Let the lesson for the County be that transparency and due diligence should be the highest priority in evaluating any future projects of this magnitude. Government should work for and consider its citizens first and not give priority to developers’ pipe-dreams.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Fly on the wall
A recently received FOIA document provides a very interesting fly-on-the-wall perspective of the interaction between the USACE and the developers of the proposed Central Texas Airport. The document in question is a summary of a telephone conference held October 25, 2011. The date of this meeting is confirmed on page 1 of the Compensatory Mitigation Plan of the revised Environmental Information Document (EID) submitted to the USACE by the Proposed Central Texas Airport in January 2012.
The meeting Agenda submitted by ACI consulting lists the attendees as Jim Carpenter, CTA, Walter Tacquard CTA, Steve Paulson, ACI, Lauren Dill, ACI and two Corps representatives whose names are redacted. It would be logical to assume they are Jennifer Walker, Chief of the Permits Section and Frederick Land, the Project Manager.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the deficiencies in the first EID (submitted by ACI in August 2011) that were detailed in response to the EID from the USACE on September 07, 2011. StopCTA submitted a FOIA for that letter a year ago. It was denied on December 05, 2011 and an appeal was posted on December 30, 2012. The document remains on appeal with the Army General Counsel in Washinton DC. Thanks to the meeting summary which lists 23 discussion items, we now have a pretty clear idea of what that withheld letter contains. Issues discussed at that meeting will be highlighted in separate posts.
The only other item to be noted here is that an additional attendee - Ronnie Moore, Bastrop County - was present at the conference call. The Corps confirmed that they did not extend the invitation so it would have had to come from someone on the CTA ‘team’. In light of other documents that StopCTA has acquired but not yet made public, that was no surprise to us. More on that later . . .
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Farce Majeure
A few days ago, an attempt to get answers to the questions raised in a previous post - Magic hammer - was submitted to selected county officials. A response came from Ronnie Moore, Director of Planning and Project Management:
I would like an answer to this question, please.
According to Section 9 (b) (i) (B), the Completion phase of the Airport is subject to Force Majeure.
However, according to Section 9 (b) (i) (A), the Commencement phase of the Airport makes no mention of it being subject to Force Majeure.
So why is Force Majeure even under discussion?
Thank you for clarifying.
Ronnie Moore: Read the Force Majeure clause, Force Majeure is applicable to the entire agreement.
Okay but . . .
Ronnie Moore: Read the Force Majeure clause, Force Majeure is applicable to the entire agreement.
It’s looking like this is going to be a dead end. But just to be sure . . .
Why specify conditions in one Section only to nullify them later in the document? Where’s the logic in that!?
Silence.
End of the line. Questions still unanswered. This has been pretty much how the public debate with the County has gone from day one . . .
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The good of the one
Star Trek buffs are familiar with the Vulcan edict that “good of the many outweighs the good of the one”. That principle is valid not only on Vulcan but as a cornerstone of any civil society . . . in theory. But this is corporate America where the “good of the one outweighs the good of the many” anytime there is a chance that money can be made.
This map of the proposed Central Texas Airport’s flight patterns accompanied Cyndi Wright’s June 6 article “Developer misses deadline” in the print edition of the Bastrop Advertiser. It brings home just how many people are going to be impacted by the CTA should it ever be built. How could the county have even considered this? Oh yes . . . the illusory pot of gold at the end of the runway.
Gaze long and hard at it folks . . . through your tears.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Groundhog day
If you’ve ever had a sinking feeling that the proposed Central Texas Airport is traveling on a Mobius strip in another dimension read on.
In the spring of 2010, negotiations for the 381 Agreement were intensifying. On March 23, Tom Pollan, the County’s attorney at Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado, Acosta LLP presented nine Non-negotiable Terms to the CTA team. Discussion of these Terms continued for weeks. In an April 08, 2010 letter to Jerry Kyle at Andrews Kurth LLP discussing the Non-negotiable Terms, Tom Pollan stated:
Jim Carpenter himself emailed a response to former Judge Ronnie McDonald and Commissioner Lee Dildy on May 05, 2010 confirming that the McFarland tracts were under contract. Marie Love at Gracy Title provided the requested document.
Please note that this contract dates back to 2007 when the first application to the FAA was made for the Colorado Riverland Ranch airport.
Now fast forward to 2012 and the negotiations currently taking place regarding Force Majeure. In a June 18, 2012 letter to Patrick Lindner, the County’s attorney Tom Pollan requests:
In an attachment to Patrick Lindner’s response to Tom Pollan, Marie Love of Gracy Title (who is now a Senior Commercial Escrow Officer) comes to the rescue again with a nearly identical document.
Two years later and it’s back to square one. Hold on to your wallets. Here we go again . . .
