East Admiral Hill Neighborhood Association Seattle, WA 98126

Port of Seattle Environmental Services P.O. Box 1209 Seattle, WA 98111 (206) 787-3127 March 21, 2015 RE: SEPA NOTICE OF DETERMINATION OF NON-SIGNIFICANCE ATTN: Lynda Styrk, Paul Meyer, Pam Xander

We the proud neighbors of West Seattle’s East Admiral Hill are outraged that an environmental impact study (EIS) will not be done for the Terminal 5 cargo wharf rehabilitation and berth deepening project. However, the deeper issue is that, as the fiscal supporters of the Port of Seattle, we are watching you place a huge bet with public money in your quest to modernize Terminal 5 to attract new business. This business model of “if we build it they will come” is nowhere near a sure thing. The threats to these future plans are numerous and well-known (the Panama Canal; other, more efficient, West Coast and Canadian Terminals; decreasing volume of ship traffic; etc.) You will have to lower your costs to compete effectively for business and we, the taxpayers, will end up subsidizing your miscalculation.

You have not been able to utilize all the capacity you currently have, and the Canal hasn't even been widened yet. Everyone chants the "jobs" mantra for this project. But if you don't attract more business than Terminal 18 (which is already large ship capable) and the others can handle, you will have paid a lot of money for nothing more than keeping the Terminals under your control and no jobs will be added. And even if you do create a few jobs, will this be worth 300 million dollars?

You are doing this massive public works project in two stages: construction and then operations. How can you invest $300 million to make Terminal 5 giant ship capable when you have not analyzed the impact operations will have on the environment/community? Increased bridge traffic, increased train noise, and increased carbon emissions are adverse impacts to the West Seattle community. If your future plans are to abandon Terminal 46 (SODO) to property developers and shift operations to the West, then you need to do that responsibly and take the needed steps to minimize the impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods. In the recent past, you have allowed your Terminal 5 tenant to violate your permit and EIS commitments to the community. Specific grievances and potential solutions:

• While Terminal 5 is in the construction phase, this would be an excellent time to put crossing arms at the West Marginal entrance to Terminal 5. In your 1994 EIS for the 1998 expansion of Terminal 5, you acknowledged that the increased train horn noise would have an impact on surrounding homes. You promised to reduce that impact by getting a waiver so the trains would not be required to blow their horns at all hours of the night. No such waiver was ever requested or granted. As a result, local residents have

been pounded by those extra horns for 16 years. With your plan to bring giant ships into Terminal 5 and unload them round the clock, you are further increasing the harm. During this construction phase, we would suggest that you make that intersection a "no horn" crossing like the ones near your own headquarters.

• Giant ships running their generators at the dock put low frequency vibrations out into the community and emit unnecessary pollution into our air. During this construction phase, you should put shore power into Terminal 5.

• Out-dated pure-tone back-up alarms are the most egregious intrusions into our homes. New, hi-tech broadband alarms are becoming the industry standard. The City of Seattle now requires them on all permitted projects because they emit a sound that dissipates with distance. They are completely safe, OSHA approved, and in use at many large port facilities around the world. Require their use at all Terminal 5 operations during the construction phase and by any future operational tenant.

• The road traffic resulting from simultaneously unloading two post panamax ships will cripple the already congested West Seattle bridges. We do not have an answer to this, nor does the Port. Therefore, we recommend an environmental impact study be done to understand the traffic solutions before reaching the point of no return.

• If you decide that you simply cannot stand up to your future Terminal 5 tenant and labor groups, at least have a compensation plan for our neighborhood. Turning a residential neighborhood into an industrial zone is a complete betrayal to the citizens to whom you are accountable. At the very least, lessen the blow by retrofitting our homes to eliminate the noise and air pollution that we will be bombarded with.

We will be watching from our vantage points on the Admiral Hill. We anticipate your future cooperation and look forward to your response to this public comment period. If you have additional questions, please contact Jim Wojciechowski at jtwoj2@earthlink.net or Henry Lee at henrylee206@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

East Admiral Hill Neighborhood Association

Represented by Jim Wojciechowski and Henry Lee