Please Renew Interim Regulations Without Any Amendments
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From: Richard Berkowitz <RBerkowitz@trans‐inst.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2019 3:31 PM To: City Clerk's Office Subject: Please Renew Interim Regulations without any Amendments Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged Dear Mayor Woodards and Tacoma City Council Members, The Transportation Institute (TI) works on behalf of the interests of the US-Flag Maritime Industry. Our members include Crowley Maritime, Matson Navigation, and TOTE, Inc. –all of whom currently own assets propelled by LNG and also operate vessels in and near the Port of Tacoma. TI has long supported local efforts to reduce emissions and, notably, particulate matter (PM) that has long plagued areas of Pierce County to the point where the region surpassed its EPA limits. We find it illogical for there to be new found calls to limit the potential for the needed infrastructure in and near the Port of Tacoma that would allow access to LNG by our member companies, other vessel operators, and fleet transport providers. These are some of the same companies who have long invested in the Port of Tacoma/trade gateway and regional economy and assure family-wage jobs are available to its residents. It is anticipated that 30 percent of vessel operators will be requiring LNG as their primary propulsion fuel in the years following the implementation of international marine fuel sulfur limits to be in place in 2020. The Port of Tacoma is the economic engine for this region and not to have access to LNG would place the port in a precarious state to retain and attract ships and the trade that supports our state. Changing the rules midstream on companies who have taken the bold risk of investing in a clean propulsion alternative would be a terrible message for policymakers to send to them and all who wish to support bold steps in technology and environmental remediation. Consequently, we urge you to keep the existing regulations in place until the full planning process, involving all stakeholders and the community, is initiated and completed. I appreciate your attention and consideration of this critical matter. Best wishes, Richard Berkowitz Director, Pacific Coast Operations Transportation Institute 2200 Alaskan Way #110 Seattle WA 98121 206‐443‐1738 www.transportationinstitute.org From: Chris heiberg <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2019 2:20 PM To: City Clerk's Office Cc: [email protected]; '[email protected]'; Randy Heiberg ([email protected]); Chris heiberg; Chris heiberg Subject: Amended Ordinance 28470 Tideflat Interim Regulations Attachments: 3rd response request Interim Tideflat Regulations 4‐23‐2017.docx Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged To whom it may concern, Please find attached my written comment to be included in the Tideflat Interim Regulation meeting of 4/23/19. Sincerely, Barbara Ardelle Heiberg Amended Ordinance 28470 Tideflat Interim Regulations->3rd response request Interim Tideflat Regulations 4-23-2017.docx 4/23/2019 To: Tacoma City Council Re: Tideflat Interim Regulations (Ordinance No. 28542) Dear Members of the Tacoma City Council, Please find attached my original written email comment from the 9/13/2017 meeting, requesting a response regarding the exclusion of my residence at 5324 12th Street NE and its 8.33 acres from your Item #3 Marine View Drive Residential Restrictions prohibiting residential development and mining moratorium. I am submitting this 3rd written comment to again request a response and determine your intentions to allow or disallow changes to your proposed blue cross hatched boundary area map. The value of this developable acreage, as well as my existing residence is a significant part of my “nest egg” for my future living expenses. I have been paying the property taxes on this acreage for over 60 years to the City of Tacoma while it has always been zoned for, and allowed to be used as, prime residential view property. I cannot afford to have this valuable asset reduced to an unsellable, useless property tax burden, because of the City of Tacoma’s expanding growth and port operations of which I have so faithfully supported for years. I have included a map of my parcel (0321361036) that is in question for your review which is at the southern end of your proposed map. Please let me know your intentions so I may make the appropriate preparations to protect my property. Sincerely, Barbara Ardelle Heiberg 5324 12th Street N.E. Tacoma, WA 98422 253-927-6146 Amended Ordinance 28470 Tideflat Interim Regulations->3rd response request Interim Tideflat Regulations 4-23-2017.docx From: Sorum, Doris Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2019 12:43 PM To: City Clerk's Office Subject: FW: Request for an Additional SEIS for the PSE LNG Facility Attachments: Tacoma City Council Request for Additional SEIS on LNG Project.docx Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged From: Anne Kroeker [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, April 12, 2019 11:35 AM To: Woodards, Victoria <[email protected]>; Ibsen, Anders <[email protected]>; Thoms, Robert <[email protected]>; Blocker, Keith <[email protected]>; Ushka, Catherine <[email protected]>; Beale, Chris <[email protected]>; Hunter, Lillian <[email protected]>; McCarthy, Conor <[email protected]>; Mello, Ryan <[email protected]> Cc: Sorum, Doris <[email protected]>; City Manager <[email protected]>; Holderman, Celia <[email protected]>; Richard Leeds <[email protected]> Subject: Request for an Additional SEIS for the PSE LNG Facility Dear City of Tacoma Council and Staff, At your Council meeting on Tuesday evening this week, I, along with many others, spoke in support of asking the City to consider undertaking the process for an additional supplemental environmental impact statement, in the wake of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s release of their Final SEIS for the GHG analysis of the PSE LNG plant. As I did not have time to verbally present all of my statement, I am writing to you now, to include it and again ask for your consideration. <<...>> I, and my husband, understand that this request is not an easy one to grant nor do you probably feel that it is appropriate at this stage. According to the normally expected progression of EIS and permits, it is not. However, we believe that this particular process was never normalized nor is this project anything but extraordinary, in all of its applications, current and proposed. We understand that PSE believes they are solving a problem for future energy needs for their customers and supplying cleaner burning fuel for Tote Marine and other waterway hauling and that most of the rest of the world, our climate focused Governor included, believes that LNG is a necessary transition fuel. Of course not having diesel fumes is better for breathing. It’s just that the evidence points to this one benefit, which could be achieved by jumping ahead of the transition to electric generation, at least along the Sound out to the Ocean, is fraught with so many other killing side effects, from the additional carbon added to our overburdened atmosphere to the actual explosive nature of the LNG fuel itself. And being able to switch to true renewable energy sources, as from solar and wind generation, is doable now. The Tacoma Tideflats used to be an amazing estuary and still has some wonderful little spots left, which we have visited and supported with the Earthcorps restoration crews. Undoing all the environmental degradation that has been put into Commencement Bay to replace it with a healthy ecosystem, is not going to happen overnight but perhaps one effort at a time will make a difference. I know that every time we remove an invasive plant and replace it with a native wetland plant, we feel hope. So we realize that this is an uphill battle, on all fronts, and are asking you to lead the charge. A big ask and one that you may not feel you can do. We need to ask anyway and to ask if you could use your influence to persuade other State agencies, such as the Department of Ecology, to look into this project and see what they can do. We also ask that no matter what your choice, that you do meet with the Puyallup Tribe, to confer and consult with what has happened on this project and with what might happen in the future, and to promise them that going forward, Tacoma recognizes their authority on their traditional lands. The past is behind us. The future is everything. Thank you again for your time and attention to this very urgent matter, Anne Kroeker and Richard Leeds FW: Request for an Additional SEIS for the PSE LNG Facility->Tacoma City Council Request for Additional SEIS on LNG Project.docx Anne Kroeker and Richard Leeds, Des Moines, WA 4/9/2019 Support for Additional SEIS on PSE’s LNG Facility in Consultation with Puyallup Tribe To the Tacoma City Council and City staff, thank you for considering this request to require an additional SEIS for the PSE LNG plant in coordination with the Puyallup Tribe. Please allow me to explain why I, and my husband, care about this project not continuing. As residents who live along Poverty Bay in Des Moines, north of the proposed LNG Plant and along the path of ships which will be carrying this volatile (explosive) Liquefied Natural/Fracked Gas (LNG) fuel, we, and the communities up and down the waterways all the way to and from the Pacific Ocean, will have our lives put in jeopardy every time this fuel goes by. As community supporters who come to Tacoma for cultural events at the museums, musical and dramatic productions, we, along with City inhabitants, will be putting our lives and health in danger when we are in close proximity to the refinery toxins and operations.