01-21-2002 Special Called Workshop Meeting Minutes

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• the site boundaries to measure the air quality leaving the site. East Harris County is under orders of the EPA that our region must reduce nitrogen oxides (Nox) emissions by as much as 85 percent to come into compliance with the national ozone standard by the year 2007. Adding this facility at this location contradicts any stated goal adopted to reduce Nox emissions in our region. 4) The Port of Houston should require a complete Environmental Impact Study be performed by the Army Corps of Engineers and require the Corps of Engineers to seek input from all communities and agencies which adjoin or may play some role in protecting the waters of Galveston Bay as a nationally important estuary. The Port Authority should also engage a consultant to study the existing shipping traffic patterns that enter and use the Bayport channel and apply this usage to their traffic models. Furthermore, it is recommended that the same consultant study the water area of the Bayport channel as it relates to the use of water recreational activities such as sailing, fishing, and shrimping. 5) The proposed development may bring about detrimental marine changes whose impact must be understood. The operation of a facility of this type will cause additional erosion to the north boundary of the Bayport channel. Measures must be in place to protect and eliminate the continual loss of shoreline to ship activity visiting and leaving the development. As larger ships come into play, the Port of Houston should attempt to understand the impact to Galveston Bay marine ecosystem if the channel is ever dredged to a depth of 50 feet. The Port Authority should require the Army Corps of Engineers to look at this depth as well as the 45-foot depth, which is proposed, to better understand the incremental change that may occur, if any. C: