Texas has authorized Navigation Districts to be created that are political subdivisions of the State and have wide ranging powers, including all powers authorized by Chapters 49, 60, and 62 of the Texas Water Code.  The Sabine-Neches Navigation District has these powers for all waterways within the County or outside but adjacent to its boundaries extending into the Gulf of Mexico.  In legislating navigation channel projects, the federal government requires there be a local sponsor bound to each project.  The Sabine-Neches Navigation District is the entity that serves this role for the Sabine Neches Waterway, the Neches River and Taylor’s Bayou.  These waterways serve Beaumont, Port Arthur, and portions of the channel to Orange.

On May 18, 1931 the United States government acquired a perpetual right of way and spoil easement from the State of Texas by Senate Bill 612, over all the lands that were part of the Sabine Lake.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with maintaining the Federal navigation channel, known as the Sabine Neches Waterway, which passed through Sabine Lake.  This Federal Channel became known as the Sabine Neches Project, authorized by the River and Harbor Act of 1962, House Document No. 553, 87th Congress, 2nd Session.  The project was defined as the main channel from the entrance at the Gulf of Mexico, up the Neches River to Beaumont.

On April 3, 1963 the Sabine-Neches Navigation District entered into an agreement with the U.S. Corps of Engineers to act as the “Non-Federal Sponsor” for the main channel of the Sabine Neches Project.  Our primary obligation is to provide lands for the placement of dredged material and other real estate needs of the Project, and to pay for the cost of raising levees around all Project placement areas, except for placement areas specifically owned by the Corps.

From a federal standpoint, the local sponsor’s cost share for this project lies in securing real estate rights for use as dredge spoil placement areas.  This function includes obtaining local funds to finance the procurement of real estate, securing land rights and easements for land use and the designation of these lands for use as placement areas, as well as building the levees to hold the dredged materials.  Beyond the realm of the federal requirements, additional non-monetary factors often come in to play with the securing of rights for use of the disposal areas as well, such as efforts to appease environmental and other special interest concerns.

On a local level, the Sabine-Neches Navigation District may also build and own Port Projects and Facilities and indeed owns locks and a saltwater barrier on Taylor’s Bayou.  Additionally, the Navigation District is tasked with maintaining the feasibility and designed depth of the Sabine Neches waterway by means of deepening, maintenance dredging, providing all necessary funding needed to maintain the levee system therein, and marketing and actively seeking new clients to utilize the existing infrastructure.  Currently the Navigation District maintains a .029699 tax rate but follows the County’s lead in tax abatements.  

The governing body of the Sabine-Neches Navigation District is comprised of a 5-member board of Commissioners, appointed by the Jefferson County Commissioners Court.  The current Board of Commissioners was appointed on January 16, 2006, and will serve a 2-year term, ending in January 2008.  SNND Board Chairman is Paul Beard, appointed by County Judge Carl Griffith; Vice Chairman is C.L. “Sonny” Sherman, appointed by County Commissioner Eddie Arnold; Secretary is Rick Lewis, appointed by County Commissioner Mark Domingue; Treasurer is Joe Johnson, appointed by County Commissioner Weiman Hallmark.  Ken Duhon is the remaining Board member, appointed by County Commissioner Bo Alfred.  The office staff consists of a General Manager, currently Randall Reese, an Assistant General Manager, Clayton Henderson, and an Office Manager, Ashlee Melancon.  The Navigation Board of Commissioners hires the General Manager, and the General Manager hires the remainder of the staff.  In addition, there are two Lockmasters, who operate the Saltwater Barrier and Floodgate system on Taylor’s Bayou.  Currently the Head Lockmaster is Merle Peckenpaugh, who has served in that position for 26 years.  The Assistant Lockmaster is James Wyble.

The Sabine Neches Waterway has a broad reaching economic impact, both locally and nationally.  Below are excerpts from a 2005 Economic Impact Study performed by Martin Associates, outlining the benefits of the Waterway to our local economy.

•    It is estimated that more than 118 million tons of cargo moved via these marine terminals, the majority of which was crude oil (73 million tons in 2003), followed by petroleum products (28 million tons in 2003) and chemicals (8.5 million tons in 2003).  Using the US Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics for the Sabine-Neches Waterway (Trips and Drafts of Vessels, 2003) , there were 74,794 total vessel and barge trips in 2003, the latest date for which data is available.  Of this total vessel and barge activity, there were about 1,800 foreign vessel calls (3,600 trips).

•    83,692 jobs in Texas and Louisiana are in some way related to the cargo moving via the marine terminals within the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District.

•    Of the 83,692 jobs, 14,987 direct jobs are generated by the marine cargo and vessel activity.  The movement of petroleum and petroleum products on the Waterway creates the majority of the direct jobs.  

•    As the result of local and regional purchases by those 14,987 individuals holding the direct jobs, an additional 13,628 induced jobs are supported in the regional economy.

•    55,077 indirect jobs were supported by $3.7 billion of local purchases by businesses supplying services at the marine terminals and by maritime related businesses located along the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

•    $877.7 million of direct wages and salaries were received by those 14,987 directly employed, representing an average salary of $58,565.  As the result of re-spending this income, an additional $1.5 billion of income and consumption expenditures were created. The 55,077 indirect job holders in Texas and Louisiana received $2.4 billion of indirect wages and salaries. In total, $4.7 billion of direct, induced and indirect personal wages and salaries and consumption expenditures were generated by maritime activity at marine terminals located within the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District.

•    Vessel and marine cargo activity created within the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District created $2.2 billion of revenue, excluding the value of cargo shipped through the marine terminals.  

•    $426.5 million of state and local taxes were generated by activity at the marine terminals.

•    $853 million of federal taxes were generated by the activity at the marine terminals in within the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District.
•    The average annual maintenance expenditures spent on the Waterway over the 20-year period 1985-2005 is $9.3 million annually.  Based on the analysis of more than 1,800 vessel calls requiring pilotage for 2004, the national economic development benefits realized by maintaining the Waterway at 40 feet versus 35 feet of draft is $198.5 million, annually.  Conversely, if the channel were to be maintained only at 35 feet of depth versus the current 40-foot depth, the additional costs to users of the Sabine-Neches Waterway would be $198.5 million.  This additional cost or national economic development benefit compares to the average annual maintenance cost associated with the current authorized Waterway dimensions of $9.3 million annually.
•    Using the 115.9 million tons of cargo moving on the Neches-Sabine Waterway as reported by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 2003, the average annual maintenance dredging cost for the Sabine-Neches Waterway is about $.08 per ton of cargo.