Minutes Exhibit D
Port of Seattle Special Meeting
of January 7, 2020
Members of the Seattle Port Authority:
For the Record | am Garth Jacobson resident of Seattle.
It is time to hit the pause button on new cruise ship terminals.
Seattle enjoys being a premier departure point for Alaska cruise ships. The approximately 1.2 million
cruise people traveling through the Seattle port last year enjoyed a bucket list trip to see glaciers and maybe grizzle
bears. The cruise ship passengers may enjoy once-in-in-a life-time natural wonders. | wouldn't want to deny future
travelers that opportunity to experience the same great feeling | had climbing on glaciers with the Mountaineers. .
But the challenge is balancing that enjoyment against global warming concerns.
| equate the issue to my experience of hiking and climbing in the Enchantment Wilderness. The
Enchantments provide unbelievable breathtaking views. Sadly the Forest Service must place limits as to how
many people can camp there. The limits prevent us from loving the place to death. So too we should explore how
to deal with the impacts of the Alaska cruise industry on the great beauties of the Inland Passage and global
warming.
Recent articles in the New York Times httos://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/travel/traveling-climate-
change.html and Seattle Times (Rick Steves Article June 7, 2019) demonstrate the need to reexamine the tourist
industry in light of global warming concerns. The New York Times identified that cruise ships produce 3 to 4 times
as much harmful pollution per passenger mile as jet planes. When scrubbers are used to reduce the pollution,
then the harmful chemicals are dispersed into the ocean. Even worse, accidents or unreported discharges raise
the question about the harm caused by cruise ships in fragile environmental waters. One cruise line faced fines for
discharging gray water waste into the pristine waters of Glacier Bay in 2018.
httos://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article231038508.html
All of this raises the question, why did the Port of Seattle Authority (2018 fall) approve raising property
taxes to support, among other things, the construction of new cruise line terminals? It is tantamount to saying
let's raise the King County taxes to potentially promote more greenhouse gas causing activities. Granted there is
always a cost benefit analysis that considers the increase of tourist revenue for the area. But given the local green
new deal (Seattle City Council) and Washington State {Governor Inslee et. al.) efforts to seek ways to reduce
greenhouse gasses, it would appear the Port Authority is not seriously planning for greenhouse reductions in the
future. Likewise a new cruise line terminal at nier 46 could enhance traffic congection during athletic events, ferry
traffic line-ups and increase the air traffic at SeaTac Airport. This potentially comes after the exhausting tunnel
construction, viaduct destruction, Colman dock renovation and sea wall rebuild. Interestingly the Seattle Times
editors raised questions about tax increases to fund new cruise terminals, see Seattle Times Nov 23, 2018.
I recommend we hit the pause button on the new cruise terminal development. Let's address the cruise
ship pollution issues, traffic congestions and ask the question, does this make sense if global warming concerns
change tourist travel habits. Also see New York Times 2019 story on "Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050
Research Shows." httos://www.nvtimes.com/interactive/2019/10/29/climate/coastal-cities-
underwater.html Finally, another important question is, what is the practical limit that should be placed upon
inland passages cruises? Those discussions should include officials from the cruise ship ports in Canada and Alaska.
As | said earlier | don't want to deny people their bucket list dream but questions need to be asked about future
expansion before we cause the Glacier Bay ice to melt away.
Garth Jacobson
206 985- 6965
gbjacobson@hotmail.com
1/7/2020 Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows - The New York Times
CheNew York Times https://nyti.ms/2NkOq0Q
Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New
Research Shows
By Denise Lu and Christopher Flavelle Oct. 29, 2019
Rising seas could affect three times more people by 2050 than previously
thought, according to new research, threatening to all but erase some of
the world's great coastal cities.
The authors of a paper published Tuesday developed a more accurate way
of calculating land elevation based on satellite readings, a standard way of
estimating the effects of sea level rise over large areas, and found that the
previous numbers were far too optimistic. The new research shows that
some 150 million people are now living on land that will be below the high-
tide line by midcentury.
Land underwater at high tide Populated area
Old projection for 2050 New projection for 2050
ay 5 ,
Wy
28 ne ad 3
CAMBODIA
~ HoChi 9 HoChi
| Py CEWBODIAgiy SIN,
=e EY ! MiohCity BIE" ARTY 253 3 aM h City
A
- LT i Sod
a| 2
2 ~~ Rs Ho
\ A E
{ \ oR rnd ok 1 I
{
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.
