(December 29, 2005) -- Moving to establish a Port-controlled air quality monitoring system, the adjoining Ports of LB and L.A. have announced they will begin a coordinated, joint system of measuring air quality in and around the dual Port complex. LBReport.com posts the verbatim text of the Ports' joint release below.
Port officials said their air quality monitoring system would provide new, useful data reflecting actual Port conditions...and pledged to make the monitored data available to the public on the internet.
"We don't have a wall between the ports separating our air quality problems, so it only makes sense for us to work together to find the answers," said Robert Kanter, the Port of Long Beach’s planning and environmental affairs director in the joint release. "A joint monitoring effort will provide more extensive data about the quality of the air in and around the ports, which, in turn, will help us focus our air quality improvement efforts."
"As both ports expand their environmental efforts, we need air quality data that is compatible with region-wide data collected by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and other agencies," said Ralph Appy, environmental management director at the Port of Los Angeles. "A collaborative air quality monitoring program will provide the clearest picture of the extent that port-related operations impact the quality of the air we breathe."
A Memorandum of Agreement scheduled to come before L.A. Harbor Commissioners on Jan 5. and LB Harbor Commissioners on January 9 calls on the two ports to coordinate air monitoring from four existing stations in and around the Port of Los Angeles and at least two stations under development in Long Beach. The two ports would share sampling data and analyses using what their release calls "regulatory-agency approved methods."
In February 2005, the Port of L.A. began monitoring particulate matter and in December 2005, the Port of Long Beach moved to develop its own air monitoring project, calling for measuring items including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone...and pledging to put the data on the internet. As part of the new joint program, the Port of L.A. will modify its current air monitoring (designed around federal EPA protocols, with sampling results used by the South Coast Air Quality Management District) to meet the Port of LB criteria.
"The result of this cooperative program will be an enhanced understanding of air quality conditions in the San Pedro Bay area and better communication of that information to the public," the Ports' joint release said.
Some veteran Port area activists responded to the news with suspicion and concern, saying the Ports might present the data in a biased way, using industry-favored standards or interpretations to downplay problems instead of solve them.
"Over the years, Dr. Kanter and Mr. Appy signed off on dozens of Environmental Impact Reports that created the pollution problems now affecting the lives and health of countless citizens," said Noel Park, president of the San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners Coalition.
"It makes me extremely nervous to think these Ports could spin the data with looser federal or industry standards and twist the numbers to continue to obfuscate the problem," Mr. Park told LBReport.com. "When the AQMD held its November [Board] meeting in Long Beach, chair Burke said he'd convene a summit seeking real progress, and if there wasn't progress he'd pursue mandatory legislation to deal with the Ports. That's what needs to happen." He added, "When AQMD says the air is OK, I'll believe it; until then, I don't believe it, and I certainly don't believe it coming from the ports."
[Comment requested from SCAQMD is pending as we post.]
San Pedro area activist Janet Gunter told LBReport.com that the LB/L.A. Ports' joint acknowledgment of a joint problem is overdue, but the next step should be pursuing a "no net increase" in pollution policy. "Nothing has kept them at bay. They just keep growing and worsening pollution while professing concern for the issue."
The Ports' joint release doesn't mention keeping pollution at no greater than current levels ("no net increase") or reducing it. "With international trade booming, air pollution from the many ships, trucks and trains at the ports has become a major concern," the Ports' joint release says, acknowledging "Harmful pollutants from these sources include particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone."
Under former L.A. Mayor James Hahn, the Port of L.A. [and Mr. Park] took part in a "no net increase" task force which developed a matrix of measures it said could roll back pollution to 2001 levels at a stiff cost (which advocates said is low compared to total health and social costs imposed by pollution). Some industry interests have called some of the recommended measures infeasible.
L.A.'s new Harbor Commissioners, appointed by current L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have expressed pro-environmental views...but Mayor Villaraigosa himself hasn't publicly committed to the "no net increase" principle of his predecessor.
LB Mayor O'Neill has also not publicly endorsed a "no net increase" in pollution policy for the PoLB, nor have any of her chosen (and Council approved) LB Harbor Commissioners...although "no net increase" has been the officially stated policy of the City of LB as set by LB's City Council since 2004.
The Port of LB effectively shunned Hahn's L.A. "no net increase" process and pursued its own "Green Port" policy, a unanimously voted resolution by LB's Harbor Commissioners pledging that the Port of LB will pursue environmentally-friendly policies.
In October 2005, the Port of LB held a first-ever "Green Port Open House" devoted specifically to showcasing its environmentally-friendly Port policies as applied in multiple Harbor contexts. The ambitious event drew a sizable crowd and [from what we witnessed] visitors came away visibly impressed. (Harbor Commission President Doris Topsy-Elvord has vowed that the Green Port Open House will become an annual event).
However, the Port of LB has not committed not to worsen net pollution if the Port expands its capacity...and the "no net increase" principle has continued to surface in contentious contexts.
In 2004, then-Assemblyman, now State Senator Alan Lowenthal (D., LB-SP-PV) authored legislation to establish pollution baselines and left the Ports to devise ways not to exceed them with future growth. The LB City Council and the SCAQMD supported the bill; LB Harbor Commissioners and industry interests opposed it; when reporters asked, Mayor O'Neill gave an equivocal response; and Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill.
In 2005, Sen. Lowenthal reintroduced the measure but didn't press for final passage...meaning the bill remains alive, ready to be revived in 2006.
[begin PoLB/PoLA release text]
SAN PEDRO BAY PORTS TO JOINTLY MONITOR AIR QUALITY
Long Beach and Los Angeles Ports to Share Air Information
December 29, 2005
The rival ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which face common air quality challenges, have tentatively agreed to a milestone accord to establish a coordinated air quality monitoring network.
"We don't have a wall between the ports separating our air quality problems, so it only makes sense for us to work together to find the answers," said Robert Kanter, the Port of Long Beach’s planning and environmental affairs director. "A joint monitoring effort will provide more extensive data about the quality of the air in and around the ports, which, in turn, will help us focus our air quality improvement efforts."
"As both ports expand their environmental efforts, we need air quality data that is compatible with region-wide data collected by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and other agencies," said Ralph Appy, environmental management director at the Port of Los Angeles. "A collaborative air quality monitoring program will provide the clearest picture of the extent that port-related operations impact the quality of the air we breathe."
If approved by the Long Beach and Los Angeles harbor commissions, the Memorandum of Agreement would call on the two ports to coordinate air monitoring from four existing stations in and around the Port of Los Angeles and at least two stations under development in Long Beach. The MOA is scheduled to go before the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on January 5. The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners is set to act on the MOA at its meeting January 9.
Under the terms of the proposed MOA, the two ports, which spearhead separate air quality programs, would share sampling data and analyses using regulatory-agency approved methods. The monitoring program initiated in late 2004 at the Port of Los Angeles was designed around federal EPA protocols, and its sampling results are used by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The Los Angeles program will be modified to offer sampling criteria identical to the program being developed by Long Beach, and it will offer real-time results just as the Long Beach program.
With international trade booming, air pollution from the many ships, trucks and trains at the ports has become a major concern. Harmful pollutants from these sources include particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.
Long Beach and Los Angeles, which have a long history of competing intensely for maritime business and international trade, have cooperated on environmental issues affecting San Pedro Bay. The cooperative efforts have ranged from water quality initiatives to wildlife preservation and enhancement efforts.
Increasingly in recent years, the ports' cooperative environmental focus has been to improve air quality through a range of strategies that include locomotive fleet replacement; vessel speed reduction programs, vessel shore-side power ("cold-ironing" or Alternative Maritime Power) standardization efforts, emissions inventory; and the introduction of cleaner diesel fuels and exhaust cleanup devices for cargo-handling equipment.
The latest effort brings together two separate programs. In February 2005, the Port of Los Angeles began monitoring particulate matter. On December 19, the Port of Long Beach launched development of its own air monitoring project, which calls for monitoring of parameters including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.
Under the new MOA, both ports would share air monitoring information with each other and environmental regulatory agencies. They also will post the information to their web sites, www.polb.com and www.portoflosangeles.org so that the public can monitor their progress.
The result of this cooperative program will be an enhanced understanding of air quality conditions in the San Pedro Bay area and better communication of that information to the public.
