The governing boards of the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles hosted a joint public meeting on Nov. 17 at the Port of Long Beach Maintenance Facility, 725 Harbor Plaza, to discuss proposals for updating the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), a strategy that has sought to reduce air pollution from port-related sources over the last decade.
“With this Clean Air Action Plan, we pushed,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. “We went forward and pushed, and not just pushed ourselves, but we ended up pushing the rest of the country and the rest of the world along with us to this new sustainable success […] I’m excited about the future.”
The ports implemented the plan in November 2006 to reduce air pollution from port sources, including ships, trains, trucks, terminal equipment and harbor crafts.
Long Beach and Los Angeles port commissions were present to provide updates for their respective harbors. Mayors Garcia and Eric Garcetti were also on-site to provide remarks.
The meeting was broadcast live online on both ports’ websites.
Garcia praised Long Beach’s partnership with Los Angeles, calling the alliance a step forward, and he also commended the two port commissions for being “not only great stewards of the economy, but the environment.”
The mayor said 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions has been reduced in the region, which he called a substantial figure.
Lori Ann Guzman, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, said that international ports, such as ones in Asia and China, have provided positive feedback on the CAAP and the impact the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports have had on the industry.
Heather Tomley, director of Environmental Planning at the Port of Long Beach, said the updated version of the CAAP contains 15 new strategies to reduce further emissions from sources in and around both ports.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-23-at-2.38.42-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said both local ports have been “pushing the envelope” in their goals to a sustainable future during a community discussion on Nov. 17. The purpose of the event was to provide an update on the Clean Air Action Plan and gather public input for a revised version of the plan due early next year to the ports’ governing boards. ” captionposition=”right” revealfx=”off”] Strategies include:
• Accelerating the process of the Clean Trucks Program, part of the CAAP that seeks to reduce the quantity of pollution-emitting vehicles, to completely eliminate older trucks and transition to zero-emission trucks by the year 2035
• Implementing zero-emissions terminal equipment by 2030
• Adopting a Clean Ship Program, which will transition older and polluting ships out of the San Pedro Bay area
• Advancing the deployment of cleaner harbor-craft engines and optimizing speed for ships
• Expanding the use of an on-dock rail to shift more cargo
• Increasing freight efficiencies and adopting new energy programs
• Substantially reducing diesel particulate matter (DPM), sulfur oxide (SOx), greenhouse gases (GHG) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, above levels of the 2010 version of the CAAP
According to the CAAP website, results show that both ports are making significant strides toward their 2023 targets for reducing DPM and SOx emissions— by 77 percent and 93 percent, respectively— and they are closing in on the 2023 target of reducing NOx emissions by 59 percent.
Tomley said the ports plan to reduce the residential cancer risks of DPM emissions by 85 percent by the year 2020 and decrease GHG sources to 80 percent, below 1990 levels, by 2050.
Public input at the event was mixed.
Community members, such as one man who referred to himself only as Tom, said the ports have done well, but he claimed they still need to do much better, citing how other global ports have a higher rate of TEUs than the two local harbors.
Another community member, who identified himself as Thomas, said the environmental advancements have been incredible, but he also said there is not a continued growth within the ports, and he even added port volumes are down. According to his research, the San Pedro Bay is down 2.6 percent from 2006 to 2015.
Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza, a former Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissions vice president who served from 2005 to 2010, spoke during the public-comment session. She recalled how she was actually part of the commission who enacted the first version of the CAAP in 2006.
She praised the plan, even going as far as saying that “there are three things that I count as major accomplishments in my life— my marriage, my 9-year-old daughter and this Clean Air Action Plan.”
A public workshop will be held in January to obtain more feedback.
Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti encouraged both ports to hold themselves accountable and to set feasible goals they can both measure. He said the community itself also needs to hold the ports responsible for the milestones they establish.
“And I know that we can get it done because we stand here in this region and amongst our two cities as the example in this nation,” Garcetti said. “For more than a decade, we have made clear that we don’t have to choose between the environment and cargo— we can do both.”
The mayor said that the environmental practices the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports implemented over the past few years have had healthful benefits for people, adding how reduced pollution leads to a lower risk of disease.
As global volumes have decreased, the local ports have continued to set records, according to Garcetti. The Port of Los Angeles had the busiest October ever for a western-hemisphere container port, with nearly 815,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), he said.
Garcetti was bold with his claim that the Clean Air Action Plan works, but he posed the question to port officials and the public— “How can we get there faster? Is there more that we can do? Are we being bold enough?”
“It is a changed landscape, but let’s not rest on our laurels,” the Los Angeles mayor said. “Protecting our environment, protecting our health also means more growth and prosperity for everyone. So far, we have hit every single emission-reduction goal […] and that’s an important thing to recognize. I’m so excited to be working with Mayor Garcia, I’m so excited that Los Angeles and Long Beach are actually together […] and I hope that we can continue that trend.”
Written comments from the public about the plan may be submitted via email to caap@cleanairactionplan.org. The public-review and comment process deadline is Feb. 17, 2017. The ports plan to release a draft of the CAAP plan to submit for final review to their governing boards early next year. More information on the CAAP can be viewed at cleanairactionplan.org/about-the-plan.
