The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com
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Island Moon The Island Newspaper
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
July 1, 2011
Phone (361) 949-7700 ● Email editor@islandmoon.com The Island Where the Age of Aquarius is Dawning
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com Some water fell from the sky last week - twice. It had been so long since Island dogs had heard thunder it sent them scurrying for cover and wondering what was going on. Island grass is turning green again but it looks like that may be our only respite from the wind and heat for a while.
Inside the Moon
Port A is Open for Business Page A 8-9
Year before last it was a fire near the Ski Basin due to fireworks and last year it was a fireworks extravaganza down in Kleberg County that set off the grass fire festivities. In each case quick work by the fire department kept the fires out of homes but the revelers in Kleberg kept shooting their ordinances skyward even as crews on the ground battled to keep the flames from reaching residential areas. If we don’t have more rain before the Fourth look for the Third Annual 4th of July Brush Fire to be a whopper.
10th Annual Fourth of July Watercraft Parade Alex passed by less than a week before last year’s 4th of July Watercraft Parade and scared away a few boats. But this year’s 10th Annual promises to be a good one. This year Harald and Ann are asking for boats and also for windsurfers to come out, along with Stand Up Paddle Boarders and, well, anything that floats. As always there will be awards for Most Patriotic, most Enthusiastic, Smallest with the Mostest, and Mr. and Ms. Independence Day. The awards ceremony will be at Harald and Ann’s house at 13762-
By Dale Rankin
Streets, Bridges and Beaches
project was stalled. That appears to no longer be the case. More on that later. First, several readers have requested some background.
Trying to reason with Hurricane Season
Local Music Scene Augie Meyers Page B1
That number is significantly higher than the 30-year average of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major storms. The Texas Coast has one major storm every 7.5 years on average. Traditionally the major storms that have hit the Coastal Bend have come late in the hurricane season, AugustSeptember, and have been early in the list of storms for that year - Allan in 1980, Celia in 1971, Buleau in 1969, Carla in 1960. Hurricanes Continued on A 13 Trying to understand and predict the actions of hurricanes is similar to thing to understand and predict the actions of some politicians. They both do things for reasons you can’t see and may not understand. Both receive a great deal of attention and their futures are almost impossible to forecast. They are both usually achieve most in late summer and fall, and seem to thrive on warm air. And, although some good may result from their passing, the most that one can hope for is that whoever they go and whatever they do, neither causes too much damage. ~Mike Ellis from his 1982 Hurricane Almanac
Ramona the Snake 13766 Three Fathoms Bank where you can attend by landcraft or watercraft. To participate turn up with your watercraft at 7 p.m. at the Padre Island Yacht Club, the parade will start at 7 p.m. If you have questions or want the parade to come down your canal call Harald at 937-2423 and let him know. This is a great Island event and we’re launching the entire Moon Fleet this year. We’ll see you there. Another Anniversary There is also another anniversary coming up on July Fourth; The 84th anniversary of the Island’s ball and chain, the Don Patricio Causeway. It was christened on July 4, 1927 and was the first road to The Island that didn’t involve driving through shallow water to get here. The Don Patricio started in Flour Bluff and car wheels made the trip between two sets of upright planks. It cost $3 to Around Island Continued A 4
The red boxed area is where canal extension and bridge construction is planned. Photo by Olaf Johansen Editor’s note: We do regular updates on projects that are underway on The Island. It has been a zwhile since we did the last one and there is some progress to report on several fronts. Park Road 22 (SPID) Water exchange Bridge. We mentioned in the last issue that funding for this
The summer program at Seashore Charter Schools is a hit with students and parents! Each week has a theme and students enjoy numerous activities and field trips. Last week, Kindergarten through 3rd graders went to the Texas Aquarium where they watched the dolphin show and played in the water park. Preschoolers enjoyed an educational presentation including hands on experience with reptiles. There are still several weeks left and a lot of activities to enjoy. Call Jessica at 949-1530.
Background: Shortly after voters approved the digging of Packery Channel in 2000 as plans for development on The Island one of the facets of those plans was a way to connect Lake Padre (now Padre Sound) to the canal system. The original plan was to simply put in underground conduits that would move water from Lake Padre into the canal system but not allow for boat traffic. The estimated cost of these underground tubes was about $900,000.
Then in 2004 an item - the only item for The Island was put into the $95 million bond package that provided $1.4 million to build a bridge that would allow for boat passage under SPID. That item was approved by voters but the total estimated cost of the bridge then was $2.3 million. Where to find the remainder of the funding was never really addressed and the bridge project is now the
Projects Continued on A 12
One of the largest in the nation
Waters Off Mustang Island to Become 26,000 Acre Windfarm
By Dale Rankin
Plans are moving forward to put one of largest offshore windfarms in the nation within state waters off Mustang Island just south of the Corpus Christi limits. When completed the 26,000 acre site will have 150 turbines which each will produce a minimum of 750 megawatts of power and use turbines that produce up to five megawatts. However, a company executive said that given the continuing development of offshore turbine technology, it is anticipated that larger scale turbines may be commercially available at the time of construction The project is being done by Austin based Baryonyx Corporation which has submitted an application to the US Army Corps of Engineers in Galveston for Permits to construct offshore windfarms on over 67,000 acres of submerged lands under lease from the Texas General Land Office across three sites between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, and if fully developed these sites could have an installed capacity of up to 3GW. “We have the leases from he GLO and are in the process of working to get the permits from the Corps,” said Baryonyx’s Senior V.P. of Offshore Wind Projects Mark Leyland. “We expect that process to take between one and two years.”
Jessica Walters, PEP Director at Seashore Charter Schools, introduces Ramona the Snake to preschoolers. Ramona is nearly a year old and will grow to be more than five feet long as an adult.
Year 15, Issue 391
Update on Island projects
This Hurricane Season will produce 12-18 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes, and 3-6 major storms, according to predictions from the NOAA. The water temperature off our coast so far this year has been less than the average to this date, lessening the chances of us winding up in the path of a storm.
Good year for rain It was one year ago June 30 that Hurricane Alex passed us nearby putting some tidal surge on The Island destroying the asphalt at Bob Hall Pier and submerging docks all over The Island. It was the first named storm in the Atlantic in June since the 1995 season. All told in 1995 there were 21 total depressions between June and November (not counting Dallas Cowboy and Texas Longhorn losses in which case the number just about doubled). Out of those 19 became storms and 12 became hurricanes. Five of those were major - Catagory 3 or greater. As you can see from the story in this issue the experts expect about the same this year but so far we’re behind last year’s pace since Alex formed on June 25 and that date for this year has passed with no storm.
New Tools Will Help Predict Storms
Next Publication Date: 07/15/2011
By Dale Rankin
Hurricane Season This issue has a lot in it about the hurricane season which is upon us and it’s possible that some smaller storms will bring some needed rain like last year when we had a few small storms pass by that dropped plenty of rain and raised up the wild flowers. But it wasn’t enough to waylay the Annual 4th of July Brush Fire due to folks shooting off fireworks. This year’s Annual Fourth of July Fireworks Brushfire may run into trouble if the tropical depression over the south Gulf of Mexico makes its way this far north.
The original lease site for the Mustang Project was granted by the Texas General Land Office in July 2009 and additional acreage was added to the site in August 2010 to increase the overall area to 26,210 acres. Over the 30-year lease, the wind farms must provide the school fund with a minimum of $338 million, according to the Texas General Land Office’s statistics on the deal’s agreed energy royalties. Leyland said the company plans to build the turbines in groups of
50 somewhere in the Coastal Bend which will provided permanent jobs. He said the turbines closest to the shore will be about five miles out and the windfarm will extend outward to the limit of state waters which is 3.3 marine leagues about ten miles. Leyland said the sheer amount of electricity the Mustang site can produce will require an altering of the area’s power grid in order to handle he increase. “Three gigawatts is a lot of power,” he said. Baryonyx has several other projects already in operation and under development including a 19,000 acre site offshore of Padre Island National Seashore. The company has a long history of offshore projects they were responsible for delivering the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm through to Financial Close in the UK. Ormonde was the first commercial deployment of 5MW turbines in the UK waters and the first to use jacket‐type structures more usually associated with the Oil and Gas industry. The company and the GLO have been in discussions with the Navy Region Gulf Coast Command in Jacksonville to prevent any interference with radar at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, according to GLO spokesman Mark Loeffler. “Even though Baryonyx was not required to get approval from the Navy to build windfarms at any of the three desired sites, talks were initiated with the Navy several years ago,” Loeffler said. “Baryonyx states it will not do anything that compromises the Navy’s mission.” Baryonyx also has a third lease which includes 8,064 acres in Dallam County, an area in the northwest corner of the Texas panhandle.
You’ll have to take a stroke for that
Driver Takes Short Cut Across Padre Isles Golf Course
The dawning of the age of
Work has begun on the site of the Aquarius street extension. Workmen on the site have mapped out the route with these stakes. The south end of the extension will be gin on the intersection of Aquarius and Dasmarinas and the north end will terminate on Commodore across from the fire station. The project should be completed by the summer of 2012
Family and Friends at the dedication of the Mike Ellis Sign
A driver who police say tried to take a short cut across the Padre Isles Country Club over the weekend ended up within inches of driving into a water hazard. Police say the driver cut across several fairways before stopping just short of a lake. He was found on site by golfers the next morning who wondered why there was a truck parked on the golf course.