Long Beach Tank Expansion Project Nixed By Court
A project to build two new tanks at the World Oil Terminal in Long Beach was blocked by a court order on March 9. Superior Court Judge Maurice Leiter, said the project description in the Environmental Impact Report “is insufficient under CEQA,” the California Environmental Quality Act. More pointedly, he also wrote, “The EIR provides inconsistent and misleading descriptions of the Project’s operational reality.” The EIR also “improperly rejects a feasible alternative without substantial evidence or adequate explanation.”
As a result of the ruling, the EIR must be invalidated, and the port and City of Long Beach must conduct a new EIR if the project is to proceed.
While two tanks were being added to World Oil’s operations, two existing tanks would be removed from service and leased to parties unknown. Because the EIR describes the
existing tanks as “underutilized,” and also states that leasing them will “increase petroleum storage capacity at the Terminal,” the court concluded that “increased utilization of the existing tanks is reasonably foreseeable, and CEQA requires that such foreseeable consequences be disclosed and analyzed clearly.”
The ruling came as a result of a suit filed by Earthjustice, representing and co-counseling with Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), in December 2024.
“The court’s decision is clear: the city’s approval of this project was unlawful,” said Earthjustice attorney Esme Levy. “Communities surrounding the Port of Long Beach are consistently targeted by polluting facilities. This decision recognizes the serious defects that underpinned the city’s project approval, and is a reminder that Long Beach decisionmakers cannot prioritize oil infrastructure over people.”
In its statement of facts, the court took note of the community impacts Levy referred to:
The Project site is located near the communities of Wilmington, Carson, and West Long Beach, designated as environmental justice communities pursuant to Assembly Bill 617, which was enacted to address cumulative air pollution burdens in impacted communities. … The 48-square-mile project area includes 83 schools, 132 daycare facilities, and 15 hospitals. … The surrounding communities have a population of approximately 363,000 residents, 88 percent of whom are identified as people of color. … The record indicates that these communities experience higher rates of poverty and are exposed to elevated levels of environmental pollutants. … The Wilmington, Carson, and West Long Beach areas are designated as environmental justice communities pursuant to Assembly Bill 617, which was enacted to address cumulative air pollution burdens in impacted communities.
As with all such lawsuits involving EIRs at local ports, approval by the Port of Long Beach was appealed to the city council, which also gave its blessing, despite significant public opposition. When the council approved, and the suit was first filed, Earthjustice attorney Oscar Espino-Padron called out the contradictions between image and reality.
“The Port of Long Beach brands itself as a ‘green port,’ and recently withdrew funding for fireworks events, citing environmental concerns, yet it greenlit this harmful project,” he said. “We are taking legal action to demand better for communities who have been trapped in a deadly web of oil infrastructure for too long, subjecting them to elevated cancer risks, toxic fumes, and chemical fires.”
Now that the project is at least temporarily blocked, Dilia Ortega, SoCal program co-director with Communities for a Better Environment, expressed frustration with what had happened and hope for something better to come.
“As a Long Beach resident that grew up in South Gate, a community highly impacted by environmental injustices, it is frustrating to see my elected officials attempt to carelessly and expeditiously expand crude oil infrastructure in severely overburdened communities, all while claiming to champion environmental policies,” she said. “Councilmember Suely Saro and Mayor Rex Richardson have an opportunity to stand up for public health and safety by halting harmful projects like this one. We urge them to stop this crude oil project, support a moratorium on fossil fuel infrastructure expansions at the Port of Long Beach, and to protect the health of the residents [who] elected them.”