THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607170008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 51 lines
An informal agreement between the state and Portsmouth to build a marine cargo terminal on the east side of Craney Island makes sense and appears to please everybody concerned.
Craney Island actually is a peninsula. It's that squarish 4-square-mile fill area that juts from northern Portsmouth into Hampton Roads - not Hampton Roads the region but Hampton Roads the anchorage connecting the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers with the Chesapeake Bay.
The Portsmouth residents closest to Craney Island are pleased with the plan, because it would leave free their scenic view on the peninsula's west side.
The Corps of Engineers, which owns the land, seems pleased, because the plan would permit the Corps to continue to dump dredge materials there cheaply. An average of 5 million cubic yards of dredge spoils has been dumped there since 1958.
Portsmouth is pleased because it might get some of the land in the distant future and because the Virginia Port Authority, the state agency that operates the marine terminals, has offered to pay a fee to the city for placement of dredge materials on the site. New waterfront property would be a godsend for Portsmouth, whose borders are locked in by water and other cities. We hope it gets some.
All of Hampton Roads should be pleased, because a fourth state terminal in Hampton Roads - to go with those in Norfolk, Newport News and an existing one in Portsmouth - will be needed to help maintain the area's economic health.
``The cornerstone of the future of the port of Hampton Roads is Craney Island,'' Governor Allen said during a visit to Portsmouth last month. ``We will need that fourth terminal within 15 years because business here is projected to grow by more than 200 percent over the next 15 years.''
Earlier this year, the General Assembly approved a proposal by Gov. George F. Allen to set up a committee to study Craney Island's potential as a fourth terminal and to report to the legislators by Dec. 1, 1997. Staff writer Ida Kay reported that the Craney Island agreement between the state and Portsmouth will be studied by that committee.
Craney Island is that rarest and most valuable of commodities: empty land jutting into deep water. As staff writer Christopher Dinsmore reported, Hampton Roads (the region, not the anchorage) is the second-largest general cargo port on the Eastern Seaboard and growing. The terminals in Portsmouth and Newport News already are operating at near capacity.
The governor is pushing for the fourth marine terminal. The informal agreement between the state and Portsmouth, with the Corps of Engineers' apparent backing, sounds terrific and should be carried out. by CNB