Green groups appeal to L.A. City Council over port development

Green groups appeal to L.A. City Council over port development Los Angeles port officials, despite more than four years of attempting to placate environmental groups over port development, are facing an even larger contingent of 'green' groups hoping to stop the port's latest project.
   Two weeks ago, the Port of Los Angeles broke its four-year self-imposed moratorium on port development when the Harbor Commission approved environmental documents for a container terminal expansion project. The approval was the first step to getting the terminal project underway.
   The port, along with officials from the neighboring Long Beach port, have pushed back development and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on environmental programs since a 2002 Los Angeles port project was squashed by a National Resources Defense Fund lawsuit. The port eventually settled with the NRDC at a cost of nearly $100 million in project retrofits and lost revenue.
   Due to the way the law works in regard to public works projects, such as the port projects, the best chance a group has to stop a project is by questioning its prerequisite Environmental Impact Report.
   On Friday, a coalition of 16 environmental, community and labor groups did just that, filed an appeal with the Los Angeles City Council against the two-week-old Los Angeles project's EIR, saying port officials are not moving fast or far enough in proposed environmental efforts regarding the project.
   “I share the concerns raised in the appeal that the mitigation just does not go far enough,” Los Angeles City Council member Janice Hahn told the Daily Breeze. “The appeal will give us the opportunity to fully investigate and address these concerns.”
   The appeal claims the Los Angeles Harbor Commission is failing to adopt aggressive air quality mitigation programs to curtail port-generated pollution. The groups also claim that the port has fallen well behind schedule in implementing its environmental Clean Air Action Plan manifesto, jointly developed and approved with the Long Beach port commission last year.
   “We’d like to see a commitment to getting cleaner fuels in the ships much, much faster and cleaner trucks to carry the freight much faster and cleaner construction equipment,” David Pettit, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council told the Breeze.
   The appeal also reiterated a point mentioned by many industry opponents of the ports' pollution plans, namely that the ports do not listen to outside input.
   “When many of us shared our concerns with the harbor commission, we felt as though our testimony was completely ignored,” Hahn told the paper.
   The new development project faces an upcoming vote on its EIR in the Los Angeles City Council, as well as several other permitting and regulatory hurdles. If all permissions are received, the project — seeking to renovate and expand the TraPac Container Terminal — could begin by next summer. ' Keith Higginbotham