The largest port complex in the nation has set goals to
drastically reduce air pollution over the next several decades.
The plan approved Thursday at a meeting of the governing boards
of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach outlines strategies
for improving equipment and efficiency to eventually move cargo with zero emissions.
The ports estimate that the cost of the efforts ranges from
$7 billion to $14 billion, but the plan does not make clear
who will pick up the tab. And detailed plans for implementing
each program will require approval by each port's harbor commission.
"Collaboration will be critical to our success,
" Long Beach Harbor Commission President Lou Anne Bynum
said in a statement. "Moving the needle to zero requires
all of us — the ports, industry, regulatory agencies,
environmental groups and our communities — to pool our energy, expertise and resources."
The plan has raised concerns that the enormous cost
of the clean air goals could make the two ports less
attractive in the face of competition from ports on the East and Gulf coasts.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Pacific Merchant
Shipping Association President John McLaurin told
commissioners he feared the cost "and its potential
negative impacts on port competitiveness and the one in nine
jobs in the Southern California region that are reliant on the ports."
Largest pollution source
The neighboring ports 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles
are the single largest fixed source of air pollution in
Southern California, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Main points of the plan include clean-engine milestones
for trucks, creating incentives to speed up fleet turnover
to near-zero and zero-emission trucks, and efficiency
programs for truck reservations and staging yards.
The timeline for achieving a zero-emission truck fleet is 2035.
Other elements include requiring terminal operators to
use zero-emission equipment by 2020, if possible, or the cleanest available equipment.
The plan also pursues electrification of terminal equipment
and expands on-dock rail, with a goal of moving 50 percent of all cargo out of the ports by train.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach sprawl over more than
23 square miles (60 square kilometers) of land and water.
They handle about 40 percent of U.S. container import traffic,
about 25 percent of total exports, and together rank as the ninth-largest
port complex in the world, according to the ports.