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

11/3/2012
1 traffic in these waters.
2 "This volume of shipping traffic puts the
3 region at risk of having a catastrophic oil spill.
4 The possibility of a large spill is considered one of
5 the most important short-term threats to killer whales
6 and other coastal organisms in the northeastern
7 Pacific." That was four years ago.
8 Every year over ten thousand large vessels
9 enter and exit the Strait of Juan de Fuca to and from
10 the Pacific Ocean. For many years, a broad coalition
11 of stakeholders; including shellfish growers, whale
12 watchers, commercial fishermen, have advocated for
13 stricter oil spill prevention and for more rapid and
14 effective response to oil spills.
15 The EIS should examine:
16 How much more will large vessel traffic
17 increase the risk of an oil spill in these waters.
18 Here is a picture showing what the vessels
19 would look like compared to our ferry system.
20 I'm running out of time. But it should
21 include impact analysis on ecosystem services and
22 economic services of Puget Sound, assess the impacts
23 of coal dust on the trains on the water quality --
24 thank you for your time.
25 o-O-o
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