FY2023
Member Designated Community Project Requests - FY2023
U.S. Representative Randy Weber submitted the following FY2023 Community Project Funding Member requests to the House Committee on Appropriations in April 2022:
Click each project name to download the Member certification form for each project.
Project Name: Sabine-Neches Waterway, TX - USACE- NAVIGATION - CONSTRUCTION
Request Amount: $283,000,000
Intended Recipient: Sabine-Neches Navigation District
Address of the Intended Recipient: 8180 Anchor Drive, Port Arthur, Texas 77642
Explanation of the request: The funding would be used to deepen the Sabine-Neches Waterway from its current 40 foot depth to its Congressionally Authorized Depth of 48 feet from WRDA 2014. This is approximately $400 million and is three times what most states put up locally to support their federal ship channel improvement projects. The Sabine-Neches Waterway is the USA’s leading Energy & Military exporter and #1 LNG exporter. No project can do more for America and its allies right now than the SNWW CIP. The USACE must have its full federal share capability in order to allow the SNND to also let its dredging contracts. This full federal share will allow the SNND to pick up at the point where federal funding runs out and will allow the SNND to take the first cut to deepen the SNWW (6 feet) all they way from that point to the top of the federal channel upriver to Beaumont without stopping. This Value-Engineering deepening process will save over $180 million and ensure the nation gets 50% of its channel improvement for the entire ship channel faster and cheaper.
Project Name: Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project (FHCIP)
Request Amount: $165,000,000
Intended Recipient: Port Freeport
Address of the Intended Recipient: 1100 Cherry Street, Freeport, Texas 77541
Explanation of the request: The Freeport Harbor Channel is a federally constructed deep-draft navigation channel serving Port Freeport, Texas. The 7.5-mile channel has a current depth of 46 feet, supporting a diverse portfolio of companies with terminal facilities along the channel. Port Freeport is seeking funding to complete the Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project, initiated in FY2021, to continue the deepening of the Port to 51-56 feet MLLW. The Channel annually carries millions of tons of cargo, ranks 10th in chemicals, ranks 26th in containers, and ranks 19th in the nation in total tonnage. Port Freeport has the shortest channel on the Texas Coast with less than an hour transit time, as it is only 3 miles from deep water to the harbor channel entrance. Due to this short transit time, the costs of improvements and for future maintenance dredging will be far less when compared to other ports in the region with longer channels.
The increased use of Port Freeport requires efficient transporting of commodities by vessels. The current channel dimensions also cause limitations and disruptions in moving cargo. Increasing vessel traffic raises safety concerns for users and terminals along the Channel, and more specifically for the sensitive commodities being loaded and transported. In 2016, the Corps conducted ship simulations that confirmed existing widths in certain areas in the Channel were inadequate for the Panamax-design vessels to safely navigate. The challenges facing the existing channel have developed due to growing energy exports, a need for more efficient transits using deeper draft, and a need to reduce safety risks and overall growth in the area.
Project Name: Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates
Request Amount: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District Headquarters
Address of the Intended Recipient: 2000 Fort Point Road, Galveston, Texas 7750
Explanation of the request: The GIWW in Texas is 423 miles long and has two sets of floodgates at the intersection of the Brazos River (Brazos River East and West Floodgates) and two locks where it intersects the Colorado River (Colorado River East and West Locks). The navigation channel minimum depth is 10 feet with a width of 150 feet. All sector gates at the locks and floodgates open to 75 feet, with depth over sills of 16 feet. The lock chamber at the Colorado locks is 110 feet wide by 1200 feet long. This project will construct new facilities and better aligned and wider navigation channels at the GIWW Brazos River and Colorado River crossings.
Project Name: Galveston Causeway Waterline Project
Request Amount: $16,500,000
Intended Recipient: City of Galveston
Address of the Intended Recipient: 823 Rosenberg, Galveston, Texas 77550
Explanation of the request: The funding would be used to install a new potable water line under the Interstate Highway 45 (I-45) causeway, which provides this critical infrastructure protection from all hazards to which the waterline is exposed. The City of Galveston service area encompasses around 134,000 acres and includes water service to more than 50,000 residents, in addition to over 7 million tourists visiting the island annually. This project would replace the existing 100-year-old-plus water line and leave the 22-year-old water line in place for redundancy. There are no concerns regarding the feasibility of this project, as the I-45 causeway was designed for the eventual placement of this water line under it.
Project Name: Galveston 59th Street Water Storage Tank Project
Request Amount: $14,500,000
Intended Recipient: City of Galveston
Address of the Intended Recipient: The funding would be used for replacing one of the 5 onsite ground storage tanks at Galveston’s 59th Street Water Pump Station. Galveston’s 59th Street Water Pump Station serves approximately half of the population of the island. The City of Galveston service area encompasses around 134,000 acres and includes water service to more than 50,000 residents, in addition to over 7 million tourists visiting the island annually. Replacing this tank would increase the capacity, disaster resiliency, and protection of critical services during disasters and emergency events. These storage tanks are critical to ensuring sufficient storage capacity to maintain appropriate pressure within Galveston’s water distribution system, and to ensuring the City of Galveston has clean, potable water available for residents.
Project Name: Gulf Coast Transit District Maintenance and Joint Development Facility – Design Phase
Request Amount: $1,175,000
Intended Recipient: Gulf Coast Transit District
Address of the Intended Recipient: 1415 33rd Street North, Texas City, Texas 77590
Explanation of the request: The GCTD, created in May 2020 as the successor to the Gulf Coast Center, is a stand-alone public transportation provider for Galveston and Brazoria counties. GCTD (under its community branding of Connect Transit) operates fixed-route, complementary Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit, commuter, and rural demand response services. This request enables the GCTD to consolidate existing maintenance activity which is spread among seventeen (17) outside vendors. The proposed maintenance facility will achieve the objectives of reduced maintenance costs, environmental benefits, and improved asset management. The project has gone through preliminary engineering and requires discretionary funds for advancement through final design and construction. This request will satisfy resources necessary for the final design phase.
The GCTD also has a long-term use agreement for property adjacent to the location of the proposed maintenance facility and has completed a feasibility analysis for the construction of a joint development project involving transit compatible uses such as a day care and childhood learning center. The feasibility study demonstrates that the facility can fulfill unmet needs in this portion of Galveston County, would benefit transit users, and has the potential to create an additional revenue stream for the GCTD.
GCTD wishes to have both projects “shovel ready” for future grant opportunities and is asking for funds to complete final design and survey for both projects. Detail design and survey for the maintenance facility is estimated at $675,000, with $500,000 for the joint development facility, for a total request of $1,175,000. The GCTD will utilize Transportation Development Credits (TDC) as the local match for grant funding.
Project Name: Reconstruct 32,400 square feet of general aviation ramp, Scholes International Airport (GLS), Galveston, TX
Request Amount: $1,800,000
Intended Recipient: City of Galveston - Scholes International Airport
Address of the Intended Recipient: 2115 Terminal Drive, Galveston, Texas 77554
Explanation of the request: This project would fund the reconstruction of a section of our existing ramp section to support the static weight of three C-17 aircraft while parked. Each pad site needs to be 60’ x 180’ to support the landing gear of each plane. The estimated project cost to construct three pad sites to support C-17 aircraft is $1,800,000.
After Hurricane Harvey, the State of Texas, in coordination with FEMA Region 6, has identified Scholes International Airport as a direct support facility to conduct Aeromedical Staging (AS) operations, support air Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, support General Population (GENPOP) air evacuation operations, and support Logistics Staging Area (LSA) operations. Aircraft identified in this report include C-17 and C-130 aircraft. On March 19, 2020, FEMA published the, Scholes International Airport Galveston (GLS), Galveston, TX Comprehensive Air Operations Plan. This plan establishes a process and structure for the systematic, coordinated, and effective delivery of federal air operations assistance to address the consequences of any major disaster or emergency declared under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
Runways, including the closed runway at the north end of the airfield and Taxiway D, can support C-17 aircraft operations. Although, taxiway and aircraft parking aprons are severely weight-restricted to approximately 122,000 pounds, they can only support air operations using narrow-body commercial and military aircraft up to B737, C-130, and regional-jet–sized aircraft. The current weight restrictions severely reduce the operational capability of Scholes International Airport in support of disaster response air operations.
Project Name: Relocate and reconstruct Taxiway E, Scholes International Airport (GLS), Galveston, TX
Request Amount: $3,780,000
Intended Recipient: City of Galveston - Scholes International Airport
Address of the Intended Recipient: 2115 Terminal Drive, Galveston, Texas 77554
Explanation of the request: This project would move and reconstruct Taxiway E on the closed runway and decommission existing Taxiway E. The estimated project cost for this project is $3,780,000. Taxiway E is located on the north end of the airport and is approximately 500 feet to 700 feet from Offatts Bayou. During very high tides, tropical storms, and hurricanes, Taxiway E is submerged with saltwater from Offatts Bayou and is unusable. Once the water recedes, it takes significant staffing to clean the pavement before aircraft can use the taxiway. This saltwater also damages the taxiway light fixtures and wiring, increasing maintenance costs to the airport. Moving Taxiway E to closed Runway 07/25 will reduce the amount of flooding occurring on Taxiway E.
In addition, a Runway Incursion Mitigation Study was completed 2016 after a series of runway incursions at the intersection of Runway 18 and Taxiway E. The study identified the existing taxiway intersections with Runways 18 and 14 do not meet current FAA guidelines requiring ninety-degree runway crossings.
The draft 2022 Airport Master Plan shows that relocating Taxiway E to the closed runway increases safety by meeting current FAA guidelines for runway intersections. It also decreases flooding and maintenance costs associated with Taxiway E. It provides another taxiway capable of supporting a fully loaded C-17 aircraft used to support operations involved in disaster response air operations.
Project Name: Airfield drainage improvements, Scholes International Airport, Galveston, TX
Request Amount: $1,650,000
Intended Recipient: City of Galveston - Scholes International Airport
Address of the Intended Recipient: 2115 Terminal Drive, Galveston, Texas 77554
Explanation of the request: This request aims to enhance safety and capacity by reducing the impact of flooding events and maintenance costs associated with Taxiways A, B, C, and Runway 14/32. During storm events, the airfield is prone to flooding, particularly on the south side. This flooding makes Taxiways A, B, C, and the approach end of Runway 32 unusable due to being submerged underwater, forcing us to close these taxiways and our primary runway 14/32.
Once the water recedes, it takes significant staffing to clean the pavement before opening up the taxiways and Runway 14/32 to aircraft operations. This water also damages taxiway and runway signage, light fixtures, and wiring, increasing maintenance costs to the airport.
The draft 2022 Airport Master Plan lists this project in the Short-Term Projects list. This project addresses these drainage issues, providing corrective measures, including improvements to existing pipes, installing additional piping and inlets, and grading.
Project Name: Southeast Texas Data Analytics and Cybersecurity (SETX-DAC) for Energy Supply Chain Resilience Project
Request Amount: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Lamar University
Address of the Intended Recipient: 4400 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway, Beaumont, Texas 77705
Explanation of the request: This project will build on the accomplishments of Lamar University’s Centers of Excellence (Center for Resiliency, Center for Midstream Management and Sciences, and the Center for Advances in Port Management), by integrating the missions to develop the needed data analytics tools that will enhance cybersecurity for Texas’ energy and petrochemical industry to achieve safer, resilient, and economically viable operations in both physical and virtual space. The project ensures that Texas will continue to lead the nation and the world in reliable energy production and export, boost regional economic development, create high-paying jobs, and enhance long-term sustainability of the U.S. and global energy supply.
The SETX-DAC partners include Southeast Texas Regional Planning Committee, the ports of Beaumont and Port Arthur, and local industry. The Texas energy and petrochemical industry depends on reliable transfer of feedstocks and products through millions of miles of gas, liquid, and oil pipelines, as well as the shipping and logistics operations at the ports of Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur. Considering the scale and frequency of floods and hurricanes, establishing a networking center and data collaborative for improved multi-disaster resiliency is also critical to sustainable industrial operations in the region. The three existing centers at Lamar University develop education, research, and outreach programs that support the workforce demands, as well as technological innovations for the processing, transportation, and storage of oil and gas feedstocks and products.
Project Name: Lamar Institute of Technology Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Skid Equipment Project
Request Amount: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Lamar Institute of Technology
Address of the Intended Recipient: 855 East Lavaca Street, Beaumont, Texas 77705
Explanation of the request: The funding would be used for finalizing Lamar Institute of Technology’s (LIT) Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Training Equipment Project, which utilizes a newly modernized ethylene-glycol distillation unit with necessary equipment. Unit upgrades were made possible through industry investments and includes a DeltaV distributed control system (DCS), intentionally designed and installed with excess capacity for future expansion of programs. Excess capacity allows LIT to connect a Polaris LNG Skid, designed to emulate refrigeration, compression, vaporization, and liquefaction processes that are common in LNG facilities, for educational and training purposes enabling engineering and process technology for future careers in the LNG industry. DCS is commonly used in industry and provides students hands-on experience with modern technology, allowing them to perform critical plant tasks day one on the job. The request provides necessary equipment to enable LIT to provide a highly skilled workforce pipeline for three major LNG projects in Southeast Texas; including the $10 Billion Liquefaction Project, the Exporting LNG Gas at Golden Pass LNG, and the $10 Billion LNG Liquefaction Terminal at Port Arthur LNG.
Project Name: Rapid and Remote Scanning of High-Risk Cargo Containers with Gamma Rays Technology at Texas Ports and Terminals
Request Amount: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Lamar University
Address of the Intended Recipient: 4400 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway, Beaumont, Texas 77705
Explanation of the request: Lamar University will be partnering with the Port of Beaumont, Port of Port Arthur, South East Texas Regional Planning Commission, and the Center for Advances in Port Management. The ports of Beaumont and Port Arthur, as well as the nearby Golden Pass LNG Terminal and Sabine-Neches Waterway, are all within 30 miles of the Lamar University campus in Beaumont, Texas. Collectively, these port facilities represent a critical transportation terminal for global clean energy supply, in light of the energy crisis caused by the military conflict in Ukraine. The proximity and increased activity through the ports of Texas provide Lamar University’s research team the ideal environment for testing the gamma-ray based electron linear accelerator (LINAC) technology. Testing a technology in two of the top five ports in the nation will allow researchers to optimize the parameters for deployment for a variety of cargo types. Through the Center for Advances in Port Management, educational modules will be developed to train port operators in the proper implementation and utilization of the LINAC technology.
The project will enhance the use of a LINAC technology that is limited to 10-MeV electrons and prepare the needed energy upgrades when practicable and allowable. This development will be leveraged on an existing patent (US Patent No. 7,599,463 B2) of Lamar University investigators, with energy ranging from 1 MeV to the endpoint electron energy needed for effective detection of Special Nuclear Materials (SNMs). With successful demonstrations, commercial units of the system can be manufactured to support non-intrusive remote inspection in Texas ports and beyond.
The technology developed through this project will advance existing cargo inspection technologies and improve the efficiency of port and terminal operations by enhancing supply chain logistics while simultaneously reducing the probability of transport of illegal contraband at all ports of entry into the United States. This will lead to an overall reduction of national operational cost at ports and terminals and secure the US borders and ports of entry.
The LINAC system will establish a means to quantitatively assess–-in real time–-the effective density of materials within cargo containers and to allow one to compare this data with the manifest. The existing technology currently available and implemented for cargo inspection is not capable of performing this essential function to ensure illegal contraband from being transported into the United States. This technology provides added versatility since the density of the inspected items can be measured and compared to the manifest as previously described, in addition to detecting SNMs. The success of this development will directly address a critical need of the Container Security Initiative by the Department of Homeland Security.
Project Name: Commercial Driver Education Center
Request Amount: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Lamar State College – Port Arthur (LSCPA)
Address of the Intended Recipient: 1500 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas 77640
Explanation of the request: The funding would be used for finalizing the LSCPA Commercial Driver Education Center. Commercial transportation continues to play an essential role in maintaining the nation’s supply chain of vital goods including food, fuel, healthcare supplies and medication. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the industry’s importance. The project addresses critical need for a highly skilled workforce by providing a state-of-the-art training facility. Formed in 2015 with one leased vehicle, LSCPA’s program has grown to be the largest provider of commercial driver training in southeast Texas, and the only Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) third party testing center. The project will allow this program to continue to meet the needs of the burgeoning transportation industry in the nation and southeast, which is a critical component in the construction of two major LNG export facilities and in the expansion of a third. The project will significantly increase capacity for these LNG project and beneficial future economic development projects.
Project Name: Hickory Cove Marsh Section 1122 Beneficial Use -Dredging of Sabine River
Request Amount: $30,000,000
Intended Recipient: Orange County Navigation and Port District
Address of the Intended Recipient: 1201 Childers Road, Orange, Texas 77630
Explanation of the request: The pilot project is for the beneficial use of dredged material generated from O&M dredging at the Sabine Neches Waterway to restore marsh habitations in an eroded parcel located approximately 1,500 feet north of the Sabine River and to support coastal resilience along the Gulf Coast along with: reducing storm damage to property and infrastructure; promoting public safety; protecting, restoring, and creating aquatic ecosystem habitats; stabilizing stream systems and enhancing shorelines; supporting risk management adaptation strategies; and reducing the costs of dredging and dredged material placement/disposal by using dredged material as construction or fill material to produce a public economic and environmental benefit. The Port is concerned that the overall Beneficial Use Program (Section 1122) will have adequate funding for the 10 pilot projects including the Hickory Cove Marsh Project in the FY 23 budget. Initially, the project cost was estimated to be $11 million; today, the estimated costs are $39 million.
Project Name: Operations & Maintenance Dredging – Sabine River (Sabine Neches Waterway)
Request Amount: $6,000,000
Intended Recipient: Orange County Navigation and Port District
Address of the Intended Recipient: 1201 Childers Road, Orange, Texas 77630
Explanation of the request: The proposed action is to dredge approximately 21,000 linear feet of the Sabine River and beneficially use the dredge material at Hickory Cove Marsh, a parcel located approximately 1,500 feet north of the Sabine River. The last time the Sabine River was dredged was in 2012, when only a small stretch of the Sabine River was dredged (1,600 feet/12,000 cubic yards). Before that, the Sabine River was dredged in 2009; 615,000 cubic yards was dredged. Due to lack of placement areas, there is currently over 1.5M cubic yards of material that needs to be dredged at this critical turn up the Sabine River to the Port of Orange. The Sabine River is federally authorized to 30 feet and is currently draft restricted to 23 feet.
