New China Shipping Lawsuit Set For Trial In June

The China Shipping lawsuit filed in September last year is set for trial on June 24, 2022, following a status conference in late September, according to David Pettit, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Port of LA’s board was briefed in closed session on Sept. 23 and again on Oct. 7, according to the published agenda.

NRDC and the South Coast Air Quality Management District both sued the city and Port of LA for approving a supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) in a manner that violated California law, most notably by not having any means to enforce the mitigation measures meant to reduce environmental impacts.

NRDC and POLA signed a settlement agreement in 2003 in an earlier suit over the China Shipping terminal, with the port promising an EIR that would mitigate its environmental impacts. But almost a dozen promised mitigation measures were never implemented, in part because they weren’t incorporated into the terminal lease. The SEIR was intended to remedy the resulting impacts, but it, too, lacks any enforcement mechanism, in addition to a significant number of other concerns

This is only the third time that AQMD has ever filed such a lawsuit. Even rarer is the involvement of the California Air Resources Board and the Attorney General, who filed to join the lawsuit on Nov. 4 of last year. “Without enforceability, these mitigation measures are just words on paper,” Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at that time.

The administrative record establishing the factual basis for the trial has been completed, Pettit explained, so “Between now and then people will just be sitting in their offices, writing briefs.”

Meanwhile, the unmitigated pollution continues.