Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to consider update to Clean Air Action Plan on Nov. 2
The governing boards of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will hold a joint public meeting Nov. 2 to consider approving the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) 2017 Update, which contains far-reaching strategies to further reduce air emissions and support the state’s vision for more sustainable freight movement, the company said in its press release.
Environmental teams from both ports have developed the update over the last two years, incorporating input from dozens of meetings with industry, regulatory, community and environmental stakeholders. The CAAP, adopted in 2006, was intended to be periodically updated. The first update was approved in 2010. The CAAP 2017 Update aims to reduce emissions from all sources that move cargo, including through the deployment of near-zero emission trucks and cargo-handling equipment, and the expansion of programs that reduce ship pollution.
According to the latest annual inventories, the two ports’ comprehensive clean air programs since 2005 have eliminated 87 percent of diesel particulate matter, cut nitrogen oxides by 56 percent, reduced sulfur oxides by 97 percent and decreased greenhouse gases more than 18 percent. The results reflect the ports’ efforts to work with stakeholders to aggressively reduce pollution from the ships, trucks, trains, cargo-handling equipment and harbor craft that operate in and around the ports.
The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are the two largest ports in the nation, first and second respectively, and combined are the ninth-largest port complex in the world. The two ports handle approximately 40 percent of the nation’s total containerized import traffic and 25 percent of its total exports. Trade that flows through the San Pedro Bay ports complex generates more than 3 million jobs nationwide.