Port of Los Angeles Gets New Green Advisory Panel

Early this week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a new advisory panel for air pollution at the Port of Los Angeles. 

The port complex at Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach is easily the busiest in the United States; either of the adjacent ports taken alone would be the busiest. That is a critical source of jobs and economic growth, said the mayor – but it also makes the facility the single largest point source for air pollution in Southern California, an area prone to smog due to its climate, geography and large population. 

Garcetti told a press conference on Tuesday that the region would not have to choose between "economic growth and clean air." Instead, the panel will advise on "technologies and strategies that will push the envelope," said the director of the Port of Los Angeles, Gene Seroka, and help figure out "how to accelerate the introduction of equipment that we know will help us meet our air quality goals and commitments." 

Mayor Garcetti hopes to achieve zero emissions moves for 15 percent of goods movements within the port by 2025.

His announcement was set against the backdrop of the Pasha Green Omni Terminal project, which has received $15 million in cap and trade tax proceeds in order to invest in zero-emissions cargo handling equipment. The breakbulk terminal will install one megawatt of solar panels, plus four electric yard trucks, two 20-ton fork trucks and upgrades to wharf cranes. 

The port authority faced public scrutiny early this year over reports that it had permitted two terminal operators to serve vessels unequipped to meet cold-ironing requirements. Audits found that one of the terminals had vessels using shore power at about 50 percent of the time, below the required 80 percent.