The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pacific Southwest Region’s 2010 Environmental Achievement Award for a clean air technology program, it was announced on Thursday.
The Technology Advancement Program is an initiative “to accelerate the commercialization of port-related emission reduction technologies through testing and demonstration projects,” according to a release from the port. The program is part of the San Pedro Bay Ports’ Clean Air Action Plan, the purpose of which is to develop mitigation strategies to reduce air emissions and health risks.
“We’ve nurtured some of the most exciting new air pollution control technology in the world with the Technology Advancement Program – hybrid tugboats, energy-saving cranes, natural gas trucks… and more is on the way,” said Richard Steinke, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, in a statement.
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The program focuses on demonstrating and evaluating new technologies that may reduce air pollutants, which include diesel soot, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, according to the port. Each of the ports has contributed $1.5 million per year to the program since 2007.
In unrelated port news, U.S. Transportation Security Administrator John S. Pistole and other federal officials visited the Port of Long Beach on Thursday to watch testing of a security measure for shipping facilities—the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, a national identification system that requires transportation workers to pass background checks before accessing port facilities. The Port of Long Beach is one of the few facilities in the country selected by TSA, which administers the Transportation Worker Identification program, to test an electronic reader system for TWIC cards.
Pistole visited SSA Terminals in Pier A, which is one of five terminals at the Port equipped with the electronic card readers. The Port of Long Beach moves about $140 billion in cargo each year, and it is estimated that a shutdown of the port would cost the U.S. economy about $1 billion a day.