First U.S. Refinery in Three Decades Planned for Port Arthur

Motiva moves on refinery project; also, grants available for organizations to convert diesel vehicles to clean-burning natural gas; Galveston’s beaches get help in fighting erosion.

Contracts Awarded for Refinery, First in U.S. in More than 30 Years

Motiva selects Cianbro. Left to right: Ralph Hanberry, module fabrication team manager, Bechtel/Jacobs Joint Venture; Pete Vigue, president & CEO, Cianbro; Mick Heim, projects manager, Motiva Enterprises.

The Motiva Enterprises LLC refinery expansion project in Port Arthur selected Cianbro Constructors of Pittsfield, Maine, for module assembly construction of approximately 50 large modules weighing in excess of 500 tons.

Houston-based Motiva’s entire project will create a 325,000 barrel-per-day capacity expansion at its Port Arthur refinery, increasing its crude oil throughput capacity to 600,000 b/d to make it the largest refinery in the U.S.

The expansion is the first new refinery building in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The new production capacity is expected to be online in 2010. Motiva’s expansion also will lower most types of emissions from refinery operations on a per barrel basis.

Motiva has contracted with a joint venture of Bechtel Corp. of Houston and Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, Calif., to manage engineering, procurement and construction.

Grants Provides Funding for Natural Gas Conversions

A state program that allows cities, counties, school districts and other public entities to tap into a $5 million grant to switch fleet vehicles from stinky diesels to clean-burning natural gas is expanding.

Residents in Austin, San Antonio, Tyler and Longview now have the opportunity to switch their public fleets to clean-burning natural gas. Previously, three metro areas, Houston-Galveston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Beaumont-Port Arthur, were able to participate.

The state’s land office grant program will give public partners in 34 counties an incentive to switch their fleets of heavy-duty vehicles to run on clean-burning natural gas.

The program, funded with a Texas Emissions Reduction Plan grant through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, will help cover the cost of replacing diesel fleet vehicles with natural gas-powered vehicles. A variety of vehicles will be eligible for the grants.

The Renewable Energy Division of the Land Office is now accepting applications from public partners for the grants.

Eligible public partners in will be able to save money by purchasing natural gas for their fleets from the Texas General Land Office’s State Energy Marketing Program. Proceeds from the program are earmarked for the Permanent School Fund.

The program will be open in 34 counties in areas specified by the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan to meet air quality program goals.

$13.5 Million, 3-Mi Project Restores Eroded Galveston Beach

A $13.5 million project to restore at least 3 mi of eroded Galveston beaches west of the Seawall will create a 200-ft wide beach from the end of the Galveston Seawall to Spanish Grant subdivision.

Funding for the $13.5 million project will consist of $5 million in state Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act funding, $6 million in proposed state Coastal Impact Assistance Program funding, $1.25 million in county Coastal Impact Assistance Program funding, and $1.25 million in local funds.

Three other large-scale projects to be funded through the CEPRA program includes $2.8 million for renourishment of more than amile of beach on South Padre Island with an offshore sand source with CEPRA grants paying $2.1 million of the total project cost; a $5.7 million shoreline stabilization project that will include offshore breakwaters for the Village of Surfside with CEPRA grants paying for $1.1 million of the total project cost; and $2.5 million for shoreline stabilization and beach renourishment to replace rip-rap and alleviate erosion from Houston Ship Channel traffic with a revetment and pocket parks with CEPRA grants paying for $1.4 million of the project’s total cost.

Christmas Mountains on the Auction Block; Park Service May Bid

Christmas Mountains in West Texas is on the auction block of the Texas General Land Office. The National Park Service has an opportunity to meet or exceed the winning bid from the planned sale.

The two private bids for the Christmas Mountains meet or exceed the original conservation goals set forth by the Conservation Fund’s gift deed. They include stringent management plans to guarantee public access, and offer educational opportunities and construction of a hiking trail to the nearby Big Bend National Park.

Both bids allow hunting. The National Park Service can seek congressional authority to allow guns in the 9,269-acre tract.

Permission Sought for Rio Grande International Rail Bridge

Kansas City Southern recently announced it intends to make an application in the U.S. and Mexico for federal authority to construct a new international rail bridge over the Rio Grande River southeast of Laredo along the proposed TxDOT East Loop Bypass Corridor.

KCS of Kansas City, Mo., has retained TranSystems of Kansas City, Mo., to conduct preliminary engineering in preparation for the U.S. and Mexican bridge permit applications.

Previously, KCS expressed interest in a new international rail bridge and secure rail corridor generally along the TxDOT East Loop Bypass Corridor to remove international through-traffic from downtown Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, while retaining rail connections to the three railyards: Union Pacific’s Port Laredo, The Texas Mexican Railway Company’s Laredo Yard and Kansas City Southern de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.’s Sanchez Yard.

Supports of the project say that retaining the rail connections along a new secure rail corridor between the three rail yards and a new international rail bridge is essential to international rail operations in and around Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.

A new international rail bridge southeast of Laredo along the proposed TxDOT East Loop Bypass Corridor could achieve the goal while removing international through-traffic from the urban centers of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. The plan would make the existing Tex Mex rail right-of-way through Laredo and the existing KCSM right-of-way through Nuevo Laredo available for other public purposes such as a commuter rail corridor for daily commuters between the U.S. and Mexico

KCS plans to accelerate its preliminary engineering and to file its U.S. and Mexican applications in the near future. KCS will continue to work closely with local and state officials in Texas and Tamaulipas to share its preliminary engineering findings and coordinate the project going forward.

San Antonio Rapid Transit Houston Firm for Engineering

The VIA Metropolitan Transit has selected Houston-based Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. as the general engineering consultant to develop the new Fredericksburg/Medical Center Road Bus Rapid Transit Corridor in San Antonio.

CB&I Awarded $373 Million LNG Contract in Australia

CB&I of The Woodlands will provide engineering, procurement, construction and pre-commissioning of two 120,000-cu-meter full containment LNG storage tanks, three condensate tanks and associated civil, piping, electrical and instrumentation work in a $373 million contract with Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd., a subsidiary of Woodside Energy Ltd., and sole developer of the Pluto LNG Project.

The Pluto LNG Project, a liquefaction facility with a forecasted production of 4.8 million tons per annum, is located on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, approximately 12 mi northwest of Karratha. The project is expected to be completed in 2010. 

Small Business Admin Provides Disaster Relief to Coastal Region

The U.S. Small Business Administration will provide federal disaster assistance to Galveston and Jefferson counties following Hurricane Humberto, which struck the Texas coast Sept. 13. The decision automatically makes the neighboring Texas counties of Brazoria, Chambers, Hardin, Harris, Liberty and Orange counties eligible for the same federal assistance, too.

Homeowners, renters and businesses in all eight counties will be eligible to apply for low-interest SBA disaster loans. Businesses of any size and non-profit organizations can borrow up to $1.5 million to repair or replace real estate assets, machinery and equipment, business inventory and other business assets damaged in the storm. The loans are offered at low interest rates for terms of up to 30 years.

SBA can also lend additional funds to help with the cost of making improvements that would protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from occurring in the future.