7c
PORT OF SEATTLE MEMORANDUM COMMISSION AGENDA Item No. 7c STAFF BRIEFING Date of Meeting April 26, 2016 DATE: April 18, 2016 TO: Ted Fick, Chief Executive Officer FROM: Stephanie Jones Stebbins, Director, Maritime Environment and Sustainability SUBJECT: Earth Day Briefing, Maritime Environment and Sustainability SYNOPSIS The purpose of this staff briefing is to highlight several recent success stories of our maritime environmental efforts. These include annual Green Gateway Partners awards for cruise lines, Green Marine recertification, and habitat restoration activities. The Green Gateway Partners initiative is one element of the Port's maritime air quality program that focuses on reducing air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions and outreach to port business partners. This program is one tool to implement the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy as well as the Century Agenda goal to reduce air pollutants; however, it encompasses a broad range of environmental performance. The Port of Seattle joined Green Marine in 2013, and this is our third annual assessment. Green Marine is a voluntary environmental certification program for the North American marine industry. This program addresses key environmental issues via relevant performance indicators. The principal strength of Green Marine certification derives from a comprehensive environmental program, emphasizing improvement. The Green Marine program provides a framework for marine companies to evaluate, measure, and reduce their environmental footprint. The program also includes a benchmark system for industry comparison and progressing toward higher tiers of performance. In recent months, the Port has improved shoreline, fish, and wildlife habitat at three locations in the Duwamish Waterway. Bank-line stabilization and environmental rehabilitation at these sites has contributed approximately 1.4 acres of shoreline and intertidal enhancement to the Port's Century Agenda habitat goal to restore, create, or enhance 40 acres of habitat in the Green/Duwamish Watershed and Elliott Bay. BACKGROUND Green Gateway Partners Awards: This is the sixth year that the Port has recognized qualifying cruise lines for their superior environmental programs, continuous improvement, and innovative approaches. (With the formation of The Northwest Seaport Alliance, the container line element was dropped from our program in 2015. The Template revised May 30, 2013. COMMISSION AGENDA Ted Fick, Chief Executive Officer April 18, 2016 Page 2 of 4 Alliance may develop a similar award program in the future.) The name of the awards Green Gateway Partners complements the Port's commitment to environmental sustainability as a green gateway. Green Gateway Partners must exceed current environmental regulations and industry standards in at least three of five categories: (1) air emission and energy conservation; (2) water management; (3) waste reduction; (4) environmental awareness and, (5) thirdparty certification. All six-cruise lines applying for the award met this threshold. We also identified a top "Program Innovator" and "Technology Innovator" for exemplary initiatives that push the industry forward with sustainable actions. A third party consultant, EA Engineering, Science and Technology, Inc., scored applications. The 2015 Green Gateway Partners awards are as follows: Carnival Cruise Line Green Gateway Partner Award plus Program Innovator Award (for its Waste Reduction Incentive Program which monitors and analyses vessels' rates of waste reduction and recycling) Holland America Line Green Gateway Partner Award plus Technology Innovator Award (for employing multiple strategies, including early adoption of a fuel treatment system, and achieving year over year reductions in fuel use, air emissions and greenhouse gas emissions) Celebrity Cruises Green Gateway Partner Award Norwegian Cruise Lines - Green Gateway Partner Award Princess Cruises - Green Gateway Partner Award Royal Caribbean International Green Gateway Partner Award Winners were honored at the Cruise Annual All Agency Pre-Season Reception on April 14, 2016. Each company received a Green Gateway flag and commemorative plaque in recognition of their award, and the Port issued a news release on the awards. Green Marine recertification: The Port has just completed its third self-certification and will be performing its second third-party audit of its Green Marine Benchmarks in 2016. While we are maintaining our performance scores from last year, there are key strategies that are still being developed that will be included in the Maritime and Economic Development Energy Performance and Sustainability Plan. These strategies will enable the Port of Seattle to achieve a score of four out of five or higher for all Green Marine categories. Following are brief descriptions of our scores in the various categories: Aquatic Invasive Species our score is 1 out of 1 for supporting efforts to control aquatic invasive plants. COMMISSION AGENDA Ted Fick, Chief Executive Officer April 18, 2016 Page 3 of 4 Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollutants our score is 3 out of 5. We received points for our comprehensive Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, maritime emissions inventory and limited greenhouse gas inventory processes. To achieve a higher level, we will need to complete an energy performance plan that we have initiated and hope to finalize in early 2016. This will enable us to meet Green Marine standards for tracking and reducing energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Spill Prevention - our score is 4 out of 5. We have excellent spill prevention programs in place. We were not able to achieve the highest score because a small portion of facility stormwater is not collected and treated. Approximately 90% of the Port's stormwater is collected in facility catch basin and pipe systems, actively controlled by stormwater best management practices, and conveyed to authorized outfalls. Approximately 12% of this stormwater receives specialized treatment, including modified catch basins and treatment vaults. The remaining ten percent of the port's stormwater represents surface water drainage from un-improved sites and landscape areas. Community Impacts our score is 5 out of 5. This reflects our responsiveness to external communications; work with community groups; and programs to reduce potential adverse noise, dust, light, and traffic effects. Environmental Leadership our score is 5 out of 5, for successful efforts such as promoting best environmental practices by tenants and customers, providing habitat restoration and shoreline public access, and having shorepower at T-91. Waste Management *(Optional for 2015) our score is 2 out of 5. The Port is missing a couple of key actions that will be implemented in the next cycle of verification. It is anticipated with the introduction of these actions the Port's score will likely move up to a 4 out of 5 in future assessments. Although our programs continued to make progress in 2015, the scores are very similar to those we achieved last year. Habitat Enhancement: The Port has completed three beneficial shoreline, fish, and wildlife habitat actions in the Duwamish Waterway in the past seven months. The projects demonstrate bank-line construction and enhancement techniques new to the Duwamish Waterway and represent cooperative effort with the City of Seattle, Washington State agencies, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Each of the actions described below represent modest progress toward the Port's Century Agenda habitat goal. Terminal 108: Using source control funds provided by the Washington Department of Ecology, the Port applied alternative shoreline stabilization methods to remedy acute bank-line erosion at Terminal 108, combining bank-line protection, enhancement of important natural resource values, and maintenance of Port property assets. Eroding bank-line, releasing potentially contaminated sediments to the Duwamish Waterway, was replaced with approximately 280 linear feet of native riparian and marsh vegetation, held COMMISSION AGENDA Ted Fick, Chief Executive Officer April 18, 2016 Page 4 of 4 in place with large-woody-debris. The Terminal 108 bank-line stabilization project enhanced approximately 0.25 acres of riparian shoreline and intertidal habitat. South Riverside Drive: Working with funds and resources provided by the Washington Department of Transportation, the Seattle Parks Department, and the Seattle Parks Foundation, the Port removed approximately 95 tons of industrial debris from the Duwamish waterway, stabilized approximately 285 linear feet of eroding bank-line using anchored large-woody-debris and native vegetation, and added approximately 6,000 square feet of public use/open space to the existing Eighth Avenue South-South Park public shoreline access site. This cooperative project enhanced approximately 0.35 acres, combined intertidal habitat and native riparian vegetation buffer area. Terminal 105: Using funds provided by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe through a state habitat improvement grant award, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and the Port worked in partnership to enhance habitat conditions at the south margin of the Port's Terminal 105 public shoreline access site. The Port removed approximately 475 tons of inter-tidal debris, consisting of industrial rubble and creosote piling. Additional funds from the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe are now available to stabilize approximately 310 linear feet of bank-line using riparian vegetation and anchored large-woody-debris techniques, similar to shoreline restoration actions completed Terminal 108 and South Riverside Drive. Enhancement work completed in February 2016, totals approximately 0.8 acres inter-tidal and shallow sub-tidal aquatic area. ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING PowerPoint presentation PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS December 8, 2015 The Commission authorized execution of an interlocal agreement with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe for fish and wildlife habitat rehabilitation at Terminal 105. December 3, 2013 The Commission authorized the Environmental Remediation Liabilities program for 2014, including a project for source control at Terminal 108. June 5, 2012 The Commission authorized a shoreline rehabilitation project adjacent to the South Riverside Drive right-of-way.
Limitations of Translatable Documents
PDF files are created with text and images are placed at an exact position on a page of a fixed size.
Web pages are fluid in nature, and the exact positioning of PDF text creates presentation problems.
PDFs that are full page graphics, or scanned pages are generally unable to be made accessible, In these cases, viewing whatever plain text could be extracted is the only alternative.