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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />DRAFT <br />02/21/02 <br />11 :30 am <br /> <br />to the worst environmental impacts, will thus realize immediate impact on their <br />surface transportation and this must be discussed. <br /> <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 /> <br />. The DEIS erroneously implies that the Fairmont Parkway grade separation is fully <br />funded by the TIP and PHA commitments. Harris County, also a party to this <br />improvement, only recently agreed to the funding arrangements. The TxDot <br />Agreements have yet to be signed. <br /> <br /> <br />. The distance between ships moving into position at the docks may be inadequate <br />to prevent collision and erosion. <br /> <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 /> <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 of anti-fouling coating products in the U.S. waters. <br /> <br />These coatings, designed deliberately to kill or slow marine growths on hulls, are <br />leaked into the surrounding environment. <br /> <br />Certain pollutants contained in these products have long been recognized as <br />destructive to natural reefs and entire ecosystems. <br /> <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 for a 56-foot depth. We believe it is better to understand the incremental <br />change from 45 feet to 50 feet today rather than hear the Port has decided to seek <br />a permit for a 50-foot channel within the next five years. <br /> <br />. A potential exists for conflicts between commercial vessels and recreational boats <br />in the reach of the Bayport Ship Channel between Bayport and the Houston Ship <br /> <br />7 <br />