Residents are concerned with clean water. The Port of Long Beach is concerned with sustaining and growing trade in an environmentally friendly manner. At least we know where everyone stands.
Hosted by the Long Beach Junior Chamber last night, the monthly Beer & Politics event held at Smooth’s Bar & Grille pitted environment vs. trade as Smooth’s owner John Morris demonstrated his LA River diversion plan and Port of Long Beach Assistant Director of Communications/Public Information Officer Art Wong explained recent steps that have been taken to improve the environment.
“We’re not the monster that ate the city,” he said, referring to Morris’ request that the Port acknowledge that its growth has drastically worsened both air and water quality in Long Beach. “It’s not like we did all of this in secrecy. We were set up under state laws to promote international trade. Not to clean water.”
Though it is not their main purpose, Wong continued, the Port has recently taken drastic steps such as leading the charge for a Clean Trucks Program. Wong says that when implemented, the plan will reduce truck emissions by 80% and total Port emissions by 40% by the year 2012.
Port of Long Beach Assistant Director of Communications/Public Information Officer Art Wong discusses the Port’s efforts to cut emissions in future development.
The Port has been commended by supporters and detractors alike in recent years for its efforts to clean its environment. Two important methods used are replacing ecosystems and habitats that have been developed on, and forcing trucks entering the port to be cleaner and more efficient, improving air quality. (See the Port’s green website and Nancy Pfeffer’s article on reducing cargo ship emissions)
Morris acknowledges the Port’s recent efforts to improve the environment, but maintains that “the city got the shaft” in its partnership with the Port, pointing to millions of dollars in port profits that go to mitigated Tidelands funds, never for the city to touch. Morris continued to stress the need for cleaner water and demonstrated slides showing the slow decline of the city’s beachfront as the Port continued to expand over the decades.
“We deserve to have a premier waterfront, and that means clean water,” he said, pointing again to diverting the path of the LA River through the Port and also to the recently approved decision to study an altering of the breakwater, which he called a “great concept.”
Wong took issue with the river diversion plan—“I don’t think Congress or you folks would support bringing a flood through the Port to slow trade,” he said—and stressed that the Port has no hand in any decision pertaining to the breakwater. He did wonder aloud, though, about the effects that any alteration of the 2.5 mile, 60-foot-deep structure would have on allowing waves to disrupt cargo ships while unloading. He also brought up the idea that homeowners on the Peninsula would be at risk to property erosion and flooding—a move which Morris called “fear mongering,” and explained that Peninsula owners were in agreement (with groups such as Surfrider) that a breakwater alteration may rid the beachfront of pollution.
Long Beach Junior Chamber President and Beer & Politics host Michael Clements looks on.
Crowd reaction and a later Q&A session made it clear that those in attendance were in favor of change. But with Wong’s insistence that the Port’s hands are tied, the question turned to, So what do we do?
That’s where Catherine Shuman comes in. Shuman represents the US Army Corps of Engineers—which would have to study and construct any alteration to the LA River or the breakwater—and stressed that her organization cannot be involved in any project unless instructed to do so by Congress. So the best thing to do, she recommended, is get ahold of your local Congressperson and urge them to seek action.
The members of Congress with jurisdiction over the area are Dana Rohrabacher (R) and Laura Richardson (D).
Catherine Shuman of the Army Corps of Engineers Planning Division addresses the crowd’s concerns.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
Disclosure: Smooth’s is an advertiser of the lbpost.com