in favor of an agreement<\/a> that commits the ports to installing zero-emission equipment, such as electric truck chargers or hydrogen fuel pumps, to curb air pollution from the heaviest polluters. The plans will be submitted in three phases: heavy-duty trucks and most cargo-moving equipment by 2028; smaller locomotives and harbor crafts by 2029; and cargo ships and other large vessels by 2030. <\/p>\nIf the ports don\u2019t meet their deadlines, they would be fined $50,000 to $200,000, which would go into a clean-air fund to aid communities affected by port pollution. The AQMD, for its part, forgoes imposing new rules on the ports for five years. <\/p>\n
Many environmental advocates voiced disappointment, saying the agreement doesn\u2019t contain specific pollution reduction requirements. <\/p>\n
\u201cI urge you not to sign away the opportunity to do more to help address the region\u2019s air pollution crisis in exchange for a pinky promise,\u201d said Kathy Ramirez, one of dozens of speakers at Friday\u2019s board meeting. \u201cThis is about our lives. I would encourage you to think about why you joined the AQMD board. If not for clean air, then for what?\u201d <\/p>\n
Port officials and shipping industry officials lauded the decision as a pragmatic way to transition to a zero-emissions economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe give and take of ideas and compromises in this process \u2014 it mirrors exactly what a real-world transition to zero emissions looks like,\u201d said William Bartelson, an executive at the Pacific Maritime Assn. \u201cIt\u2019s practical, it\u2019s inclusive and it\u2019s grounded in shared goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vote answers a long-standing question over how the AQMD intends to reduce pollution from the sprawling trade complex, a focus of environmental justice efforts for decades. <\/p>\n
The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, known as the San Pedro Port Complex, is the largest container port in the Western Hemisphere, handling 40% of all container cargo entering the United States. Despite years of efforts at reducing pollution, the vast majority of heavy machinery, big rigs, trains and ships that serve the region\u2019s bustling goods movement still are powered by diesel engines that emit toxic particles and nitrogen oxides, a precursor to smog. <\/p>\n
For nearly a decade the AQMD has vacillated between strict regulation and a pact with the ports with more flexibility. Several negotiations over a memorandum of understanding failed between 2017 and 2022. The board was prepared to require the ports to offset smog-forming pollution from trucks, trains and ships through clean air projects, like solar panels or electric vehicle chargers. Instead, the ports presented the AQMD with a proposed cooperative agreement, prompting the agency to pause its rulemaking. <\/p>\n
The AQMD doubled the penalties in that proposal and agreed not to make new rules for five years, not the 10 the industry wanted. <\/p>\n
Perhaps the most important details of the agreement \u2014 the types of energy or fuel used; the appropriate number of chargers or fueling stations \u2014 won\u2019t be published for years. The lack of specifics prompted skepticism from many environmental advocates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a stall tactic to make a plan for a plan in the hope that emission reductions will come sometime in the future,\u201d said Fernando Gaytan, a senior attorney with environmental nonprofit Earthjustice.<\/p>\n
The contract also includes a clause that the AQMD or ports could terminate the agreement \u201cfor any reason\u201d with a 45-day written notice. Wayne Nastri, the AQMD\u2019s executive officer, said this gives the agency the option to switch back to requiring zero-emission infrastructure at the ports. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we report back to you and you\u2019re not seeing the progress being made, you can be confident knowing that you can pivot and release that [rulemaking] package,\u201d Nastri said to the board. <\/p>\n
At the end of public comment, opponents of the agreement broke into loud chants. The AQMD cleared the gallery as the board discussed the proposal. <\/p>\n
Board member Veronica Padilla-Campos, the lone \u201cno\u201d vote, said the agreement lacked the necessary emission reductions and offered \u201cno clear accountability\u201d to local communities.<\/p>\n
Fellow board member Nithya Raman acknowledged many criticisms of the agreement but ultimately voted for it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really have come to believe that the choice before us is this cooperative agreement or no action at all on this issue \u2014 continuing a decade of inaction,\u201d Raman said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will be voting to support it today, because I do think that it is our only pathway to take any steps forward toward cleaner air at the single largest source of air pollution in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan still must be approved by commissioners at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission at meetings this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southern California air officials voted overwhelmingly Friday to give themselves the power to levy fines on the ports…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":364929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[38670,2836,176549,3387,176712,125158,71316,746,18448,2444,18416,40240,6280,159,176711,25972,67,132,68,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-364928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-agreement","9":"tag-air-pollution","10":"tag-aqmd","11":"tag-board","12":"tag-cargo-ship","13":"tag-clean-air","14":"tag-decade","15":"tag-environment","16":"tag-long-beach","17":"tag-los-angeles-times","18":"tag-plan","19":"tag-port","20":"tag-region","21":"tag-science","22":"tag-smog-forming-pollution","23":"tag-train","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115515052718573624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}