Possible port deal should get us talking

Over the next year, Illinois-based CenterPoint's $3.5 billion bid to take over the state port should spur a long, overdue debate about the condition of our transportation system and its intersection with the state budget. Whether all that culminates in the sale of the port is a conversation worth having, however long it takes and no matter what conclusion it reaches.

At the outset, CenterPoint's offer for a 60-year concession will force the state again to test the wisdom of public ownership of one of Virginia's most valuable assets. The proposal itself will likely spur others, helping state officials identify a fair price.

But that's only the barest beginning of any conversation about the port.

CenterPoint hopes to take over the nonprofit Virginia International Terminals, which manages Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal, and the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal. It would make $8.9 billion in payments over 60 years, a deal worth about $3.5 billion in today's dollars.

The price for the port's operations has undoubtedly been depressed by the region's crumbling and crowded transportation network. Proving that it has already done some of its political homework, CenterPoint has suggested its payments be used to build roads and bridges.

However it is used, $3.5 billion is a lot of money, especially for a state desperate to fill holes in the budget without raising taxes. But in the absence of an inviolable transportation trust fund, the temptation - which Richmond has proven unable to resist - will be to throw any port revenues into the state's general fund, where they will quickly disappear.

There are smaller issues as well. The company's offer of minimal payments to Norfolk and Portsmouth, the two cities that host most of the port operations, may be a starting point for negotiations. But it is an insulting one, at best, given the tremendous pressure the port puts on both cities' roads and infrastructure.

Farther west, CenterPoint already plans to build an enormous cargo operation in Suffolk, despite the fact that the road it will use is failing and needs a $90 million fix. Increased rail traffic between the port and Suffolk will create hours of snarls at crossings where there are already knots. Needless to say, Suffolk has no money to address those problems itself.

Issues like that and others should shake out over the next several months as CenterPoint's port proposal is reviewed. Assuming it meets minimum standards, the offer will be up for at least a 90-day public review, during which Richmond will try to lure competitors. After that, an independent panel will examine all the proposals and decide whether to move forward. State officials say the process could take more than a year.

Good. Whether CenterPoint will one day become one of the region's most critical employers, or whether its offer simply gets us talking about such issues, the company has already done Hampton Roads a service.