The Port of Long Beach (POLB) is currently considering plans that would allow for the development of new fossil gas stations (also known as “bunkering”) at the port – a decision that would harm our community and exacerbate our present anthropogenic climate crisis by increasing fossil fuel pollution and emissions. The Port of Long Beach – comprising part of the largest port complex in the Western Hemisphere – is updating its Port Master Plan with language that would by expand permissibility for liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering at the port. If new LNG bunkering facilities are built, the Port would lock-in harmful air quality pollution and climate-warming emissions for decades to come.
“Allowing fossil gas LNG bunkering at our ports will inflict irreparable harm onto our communities, our health, and our climate,” said Dawny’all Heydari, Climate Campaigner for Clean Ports Southern California for Pacific Environment. “We are urging Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, Harbor Commission President Sharon Weissman and Port Executive Director Mario Cordero to reject LNG at our ports and to focus on transitioning to a 100% zero-emission future for the port. The city and the port have a moral imperative to prioritize the health and long-term sustainability of our community and communities neighboring the Port of Long Beach.”
From extraction to consumption, LNG emits methane, a super-disrupting greenhouse gas that is up to 86 times more potent in its climate-warming potential than carbon dioxide on a shorter timescale – meaning more global warming, faster.
Southern California has irreversibly warmed by 3 degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the twentieth century, representing the fastest regional temperature increase in human history. Thirty percent of this temperature rise is due to methane emissions. Long Beach is projected to warm by an additional 4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050. Rising temperatures cause a vast range of problems that threaten human life, including increasingly frequent and deadly heatwaves, wildfires and power outages. Southern California experienced record-sha`ering heatwaves, including 109 degrees Fahrenheit in Long Beach in September 2022. Summer 2021 heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest reached levels that were previously projected to occur less than once in 10,000 years. The heatwaves killed 600 people.
While the Port of Long Beach has committed to a zero-emission future through the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, POLB and the ships that call Long Beach remain major and growing sources of climate-warming fossil fuel pollution. In 2021, ocean-going vessels at the Port of Long Beach had an 87% increase in climate pollution compared to the previous year, while the port overall had a 35% increase in climate pollution.
UN Secretary-General Guterres continues to sound the alarm of our climate crisis and the dire need to address climate change and calling on countries to: “Act decisively before it is too late.”
In addition to warming our climate, LNG poses risks to public health and safety. As a fossil fuel, LNG causes air quality pollution that contributes to increased rates of childhood asthma, increased respiratory emergency room visits and premature death. Globally, shipping emissions were projected to cause 265,000 premature deaths annually (2020). LNG facilities also expose the community to potential explosions, fires and natural gas leaks. In June 2022, the Freeport LNG export facility in Texas suffered an LNG blast that caused a 450-foot fireball. Freeport LNG has been the subject of 11 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administra=on (PHMSA) cases in the last seven years. PHMSA sought a $2.2 million fine against Cheniere Energy Inc., another Gulf Coast LNG operator, aker a leak occurred at its Sabine Pass facility.
In 2021, the United States and the European Union announced a Global Methane Pledge to take voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2 ̊C warming by 2050. As a U.S. city with a major port, Long Beach must take the steps necessary to support our national commitment to this Pledge. Allowing LNG bunkering at the port is a step in the wrong direction and will imperil our ability to reduce methane emissions globally.
“Californians already feel the effects of the climate crisis with increasingly hot summers and colder winters. We are suffering oppressive heat waves, deadly wildfires and long-lasting drought. We are speeding towards our climate’s tipping point due to our leaders’ continued support of climate-disrupting fossil fuels like liquefied natural gas,” said Heydari. “We can no longer afford to wait to act. We must transition away from fossil fuels now.”
Ports for People is campaigning to end port and shipping pollution once and for all. Ports must take decisive action in the fight for environmental justice and climate survival. Working with frontline communities, allies, and partners, we seek to transform ports from hotspots of fossil fuel pollution to thriving hubs of sustainable economic development and environmental protection – where clean tech innovations enable port communities to benefit from renewable energy, clean air and clean oceans, and a safe home for people and wildlife to live in harmony.