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LJ <br /> <br />to the worst environmental impacts, will thus realize immediate impact on their <br />surface transportation and this must be discussed. <br />• An overpass must be constructed where Fairmont Parkway, a major thoroughfare, <br />crosses the new inter port railway. This overpass and the highway modifications <br />at the entrance to the port must be in place by the date the port begins operation. <br />• The DEIS en oneously implies that the Fairmont Parkway grade separation is fully <br />funded by the Transportation Implementation Plan and Port of Houston Authority <br />commitments. Hams County, also a party to this improvement, only recently <br />agreed to the funding arrangements. The Texas Department of Transportation <br />Agreements have yet to be signed. <br />SHIPPING <br />• The distance between ships moving into position at the docks may be inadequate <br />to prevent collision and erosion. <br />• Ships entering the Bayport Terminal do not have to comply with the State air <br />emissions reduction efforts and will bring their emissions into close proximity to a <br />highly urbanized, residential area. <br />• The DEIS does not speak to reducing or mitigating the increased levels of <br />pollution from marine vessel coatings and materials, which will come from the <br />additional increase of foreign flagged vessels entering Galveston Bay. Use of <br />antifouling coatings to reduce the organic growth of marine life by foreign vessels <br />do not fall under and are immune to U. S. laws and regulations against the <br />deposition of trace amounts ofanti-fouling coating products in the U. S. waters. <br />These coatings, designed deliberately to kill or slow marine growths on hulls, are <br />leaked into the surrounding environment. <br />Certain pollutants contained in these products have long been recognized as <br />destructive to natural reefs and entire ecosystems. <br />The permit application continues to be silent on the impact of deepening the <br />channel from 45 feet to 50 feet even though the Bayport wharves are being <br />designed fora 56-foot depth. We believe it is better to understand the incremental <br />change from 45 feet to SO feet today rather than hear the Port has decided to seek <br />a permit for a SO-foot channel within the next five years. <br />7 <br />