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[EXTERNAL] Revised: PUBLIC COMMENT for August 9, 2022

Patrick McKee <patmckee@sbcglobal.net>

Tue 8/9/2022 9:02 AM

To: Commission-Public-Records <commission-public-records@portseattle.org>

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Sorry.

Good afternoon commissioners -

I want to call your attention to the Clean Shipping Act (H.R. 8336), introduced last month by

Congressman Alan Lowenthal and co-sponsored by Congresswoman Nanette Barragán; they

represent the districts containing the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles respectively - together

the two ports comprise the busiest shipping facility in the Western Hemisphere.

The bill would zero out pollution from all ocean shipping companies doing business with the U.S. -

protecting the health of port communities, addressing environmental injustice, and providing

solutions to the climate crisis.

The bill directs the EPA to do the following:

Set progressively tighter carbon intensity standards for shipping consistent with a 1.5° Celsius

decarbonization pathway: GHG reductions of 20 percent by 2027, 45 percent by 2030, 80 percent

by 2035, and 100 percent by 2040, relative to 2024 (these are benchmarks; they’re used as a means

of ensuring progress toward an ultimate goal - and they’re conspicuously absent from the so called

Green Cruise Corridor proposal recently laid out by the Port of Seattle).

And, by 2030, require all ships at-berth or at-anchor in U.S. ports to emit zero GHG emissions and

zero air pollutant emissions (this doesn’t mean voluntary compliance, and it doesn’t apply only to

ships whose owners deign to invest in shore power technology, which as far as I can tell is the Port

of Seattle’s position).

We keep hearing the Port Commission’s expressions of concern - the Port is between a rock and a

hard place, forced to choose between protecting the Salish Sea and the planet and ensuring revenue

and job producing Port business. But hey - problem solved. Come on, Seattle - we can let the Feds

handle our dirty work for us, applying a standard all U.S. ports will have to meet.

To this end I encourage the port to direct its congressional lobbying entity to endorse and support

the Clean Shipping Act; maybe even redirect toward that effort the hundreds of thousands of

dollars budgeted for Cruise promotion over the next few years.

Thank you.