By Cyndi Sellers

The Cameron Parish Police Jury will consider several hurricane related items at its agenda and voting meetings this Thursday. Parishwide damage, insurance, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, temporary FEMA housing, and debris removal are all on the morning agenda meeting schedule. The voting meeting will address permits for drainage dredging, new utility poles, fiberoptic cable under the Intracoastal, and filling of borrow pits with vegetative, wood and construction debris.

Of major interest is a variance request by Canik’s Feed and Grocery in Creole to re-build below Base Flood Elevation. The structure was more than fifty percent damaged by Hurricane Laura, as was most of Creole, and subsequently demolished by the owner. The owner had begun rebuilding before gaining a variance and was served a stop work order by the Parish permit department. The decision of the Police Jury on this issue will set a precedent for hurricane recovery on the area going forward.

The Jury will also adopt its 2021 budget, having held a public hearing at 8:30 a.m.

Blue Marlin Offshore Port

The Jury will vote on a permit for the Blue Marlin Offshore Port pipeline from Nederland, Texas to the Stingray pipeline in Johnson Bayou. A scoping meeting for the Blue Marlin Offshore Port was held last week. The proposed floating port will transfer heavy and light crude oil to ships for export.

CALM buoys will be anchored to the seafloor. Two 24 inch diameter, 1500 foot long floating hoses will be connected to each CALM Buoy and to two crude oil loading pipelines located three feet below the sea floor. Blue Marlin plans to convert two above ground stations in Cameron Parish from natural gas to oil service along the Stingray Pipeline, as well as converting the pipeline from natural gas to oil service, and to convert a platform complex from natural gas to oils and gas service. The shore facility in Johnson Bayou will be manned. The facilities will be designed to serve as many as 365 tankers a year, moving 80,000 barrels per hour of crude oil.

The Coast Guard in coordination with MARAD is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement. The draft is scheduled for completion by March 2021, followed by a public meeting. If approved, construction could begin in the fall of 2021, with operations to begin in 2023.