Is Craney Island a want or a need?

Craney Island is a want, not a need, plain and simple.  

The 600-acre future marine terminal in Portsmouth is a boondoggle.  

Craney Island today. Let it stay this way

And Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine should have considered that possibility before they sent a letter to President Obama asking for more money for its development.   

The cost: over $ 2 billion. But that figure, often cited, is years old, so the cost could be much higher by now. 

It is the Holy Grail of the Virginia Port Authority, which has been touting its benefits for more than a decade. 

It is the linchpin of the port authority’s strategic plan, a tome filled with facts and figures substantiated by consultants and consecrated by the port authority board of commissioners. 

But the Craney Island elegantly designed rendering has been nothing more than that since the late 1990s.   

A few years ago, while I was at local business journal Inside Business, I penned an article about the development of Craney Island as a fourth marine terminal.

I asked members of the maritime community whether or not the Craney Island project was a good or bad idea.

Some said, yes it is.

But most said it’s a bad idea and a waste of money.

Some refused to go on the record. Those who didn’t go on the record opposed the 600-acre expansion of this dredge spoil site.

So far, $100 million has been spent on the project – divided between the state and the federal government.

But that’s not the issue.

The port authority is in a state of turmoil. People are leaving or plan to leave; and it isn’t clear who’s in charge, despite dramatic changes by the port authority’s 11-member board of commissioners.

In fact, it appears as though port authority personnel are reporting to managers at Virginia International Terminal Inc., supposedly managed by the port authority.

This is an odd twist to a chaotic saga of an organization that has been emasculated by power brokers whose good intentions to fix an unwieldy situation have backfired.

More so, a new governor will be installed next year. Maybe he will oppose such an initiative.  Maybe he will dissolve VIT and open the port to private interests, such as AP Moeller-Maersk (a story whose ending hasn’t been written yet).

Word has it that the port authority plans to hire a chief operations officer and chief human resources officer, as well as a chief commercial officer.

A national search is on for these three positions. 

Yet some top positions – Tom Capozzi, Joe Ruddy -- at Virginia International Terminals Inc., were basically handed to them.

No national sear. No vetting.

Maybe that’s the legacy of Joe Dorto, VIT’s former boss and quotable executive, who led with a blend of Brooklyn charm (if such exists) and a boundless quest to win, sometimes regardless of the cost.

Maybe he anointed Ruddy and Capozzi.

Craney Island should remain a refuge for rats, cranes and other wildlife.