Being a vital part of the community means being a good, responsible neighbor. The Ports Authority has several programs in place to help protect the natural environment, including a more than $12-million program to offset both environmental and community impacts of port development on the former Navy Base.

To offset indirect environmental impacts and serve the public interest, the Ports Authority’s mitigation plan includes support for large-scale land preservation efforts. With advice from The Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy, the plan includes $1 million for the Morris Island protection effort and $1 million toward protecting land through the Cooper River Initiative, a broad-based consortium of environmental agencies and groups.

To protect aquatic wildlife, the Ports Authority is partnering with Wildlife Trust to increase aerial surveys that track the endangered Northern right whale. When whales are sighted, mariners can then be notified of the whales’ locations. The first surveys began in December 2007. Also, the Ports Authority is recreating 22 acres of tidal marsh at a site in the lower harbor, as well as restoring more than five miles of oyster reefs in and around Charleston Harbor.

In addition to traditional environmental programs, the Ports Authority, the City of North Charleston and surrounding neighborhoods worked for months on initiatives to ensure the most positive impact from the new terminal. This culminated in May with an agreement for $4 million in community programming to fund education and job training programs, establish an affordable housing trust and other projects.

In March 2007, the Ports Authority pledged to partner with SCDHEC to reduce air emissions associated with operations at existing and future facilities. Among other initiatives, the SCSPA is funding a new air monitoring station, using cleaner engines and including emissions-reducing guidelines in its construction bid documents.

Already, the Ports Authority has switched all of its terminal equipment to ultra-low sulfur diesel, the cleanest fuel available, three years ahead of a federal mandate. Beyond on terminal operations, the Ports Authority supports the EPA’s proposed new emissions standards for ocean-going vessels.