LOS ANGELES: The Port of Los Angeles has failed to carry out vital pollution-reduction measures it agreed to make after a legal settlement more than a decade ago, according to a document released by the port.
In an environmental notice, the port revealed it has not completed 11 of 52 measures it agreed to impose to reduce air pollution, noise and traffic when it allowed the expansion of the China Shipping terminal.
Among the steps not taken are requirements that all ships slow as they approach the port and shut down their diesel engines and plug in to onshore electricity when docked to reduce harmful emissions. Also not met were mandates that trucks and yard tractors be fueled by less-polluting natural gas and other alternative fuels.
China Shipping North America operates the 130-acre terminal near the Vincent Thomas Bridge under a lease agreement that expires in 2030. It is one of the busiest tenants at the publicly owned port, accounting for about 20% of the port’s container volume. The company did not respond to calls requesting comment to its office in Long Beach and its corporate headquarters in Montvale, N.J.
Port officials on Tuesday blamed the inaction on previous administrators and vowed to correct the situation. The revelation stunned environmentalists and community groups, who say it raises questions about how much the port has truly cleaned up what has been hailed as the first “green” container terminal in the world.
News of the failures comes more than a decade after community groups and residents filed a lawsuit against the terminal expansion. A legal settlement required the port to put $50 million in a fund to offset the effects of more trucks, ships and cargo-handling equipment on nearby communities such as San Pedro and Wilmington, and to conduct more environmental reviews. Those studies forced the port to include an array of new restrictions on the project before it was approved in 2008.
Shipping activity at Port Qasim on February 11
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