Public Hearing - EISs for the Proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal ...

11/3/2012
1 approximately 700,000 visitors here each year, who in
2 2009 spent 116 and a half million dollars on dining,
3 lodging, shopping, arts, whale watching, kayaking,
4 entertainment, et cetera.
5 As a result these visitors generated
6 2.1 million in our local tax receipts, which help
7 directly with our roads, schools, et cetera. And they
8 contribute 6.2 million to our state government.
9 Tourism is clearly our number one economic
10 driver and employer. And tourism is our
11 environment -- or, let's see, our environment is our
12 economy.
13 So an oil spill could change this overnight.
14 They could have catastrophic results on our
15 magnificent endangered whales and wildlife, our
16 stewardship on the whale watching industry, our
17 kayaking industry, our boating industry, et cetera.
18 Thank you for taking this into consideration.
19 o-O-o
20 CHRIS GREACEN: Hi. My name is Chris
21 Greacen; I grew up on Lopez Island, and I live on
22 Lopez with my wife and children.
23 I have a PhD in Energy and Resources from
24 the University of California at Berkeley, and I work
25 as a consultant to the World Bank on energy policy.
Seattle Deposition Reporters, LLC www.seadep.com * (206) 622-6661 * (800) 657-1110 Page: 71