By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
As the Port of Los Angeles continues work on the latest China Shipping EIR (environmental impact report), this one dealing with mitigation failures of the 2009 plan, the Coalition for a Safe Environment is stepping up the focus on zero emissions technology, which was missing from the port’s first version, which was withdrawn under fire last year.
“The biggest change should be the new requirement that the China Shipping Terminal now incorporate all the new zero emission and ship emissions capture technology that did not exist at that time,” CFASE founder and executive director Jesse Marquez told Random Lengths. “The Coalition For A Safe Environment will now play a major role in this regard.”
Marquez revealed that CFASE now publishes a monthly updated survey of all Zero Emission Technology Vehicles and Equipment related to Ports, Goods Movement and Construction.
“We will submit this survey list of all manufacturers, the vehicle or equipment name and model number,” he said.
On November 28, CFASE released the latest update of its survey, starting with eight Class 8 (heavy, semi-trailer) trucks, including trucks by BYD, Kenworth, Nikola, Toyota, TransPower, and US Hybrid. It also lists 10 Class 8 electric yard tractors, 93 electric forklifts, 22 electric locomotives, three electric ship-to-shore rail-mounted gantry cranes, and six electric rubber-tired gantry cranes, among many others.
There is now a world-wide push to get off fossil fuels within the next decade or two, so the list of zero-technology options compiled by CFASE will only grow longer. The question is, when will the port take action?
POLA declined comment for this story. “That document was submitted as part of the CEQA process,” port spokesman Phillip Sanfield told Random Lengths via email. “POLA response will be part of the CEQA process. We do not provide replies outside of the CEQA process.”
But the survey itself is a new document, updating past information, and it addresses the much broader issue of implementing zero-emissions technology port-wide, not just at China Shipping.
In his public comment on October 25, Marquez pointed to another aspect of the problem–vagueness in the EIR about when any new clean technology would actually be put into service. He worried that “some pieces of equipment might last 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and it’s their discretion as to when they might want to replace [them.”]
The longer the list of zero emissions technology gets, the larger the gap among the port’s green self-image and the reality of the air we breathe and the overheating planet.