POLB Aerial

Photo courtesy of the Port of Long Beach.

Environmental teams from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will hold a joint community workshop on Wednesday, October 14 to gather input on the next update of the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), the ports announced Wednesday.

Initially adopted in 2006 and updated in 2010, this historic environmental plan has called for aggressive strategies that have proven highly effective in reducing air pollution from port-related sources.

The Clean Air Action Plan Update Community Workshop will be held from 3:00PM to 5:00PM at Banning’s Landing Community Center in Wilmington and is open to the public.

Since its adoption, the CAAP has resulted in major reductions in air pollution from the ships, trains, trucks, terminal equipment and harbor craft that operate in and around the ports. According to the release, over the past decade, levels of diesel particulate matter have dropped 82 percent, oxides of nitrogen fell 54 percent and oxides of sulfur have declined 90 percent due largely to pollution-reducing strategies implemented under the plan.

The ports have periodically reviewed and updated the CAAP as a “living document” and over recent months have started gathering input from multiple stakeholders. The workshop will include a presentation outlining the scope and timeline of the next update of the CAAP, as well as an interactive dialogue with those who attend.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two busiest ports in the nation, first and second respectively, and combined are the 10th busiest port complex in the world. The two ports handle approximately 40 percent of the nation’s total containerized imports and 25 percent of its total exports, while trade that flows through the San Pedro Bay ports complex generates more than 3 million jobs nationwide.

Banning’s Landing Community Center is located at 100 East Water Street, Wilmington, 90744.

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Asia Morris is a Long Beach native covering arts and culture for the Long Beach Post. You can reach her @hugelandmass on Twitter and Instagram and at [email protected].