Port of Los Angeles says clean-air targets exceeded at China Shipping terminal

Regardless of failing to enact more than 20% of anti-pollution measures it had pledged to honour, the Port of Los Angeles claims it still achieved the set targets for emissions reduction, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A day after the Times revealed that the port admitted to not implementing 11 of 52 recommended actions, it quoted Port executive director Gene Seroka as saying that nevertheless air quality levels improved to a degree even better than targeted.

That means that overall pollution from vessels, harbour craft, marine terminal handling equipment, trucks and trains in the harbour complex have all come down significantly.

The anti-pollution measures were required 10 years earlier in a legal settlement of a case brought against the expansion of the China Shipping container terminal at the Port. China Shipping is one of eight container terminals at the facility.

Among the 11 tasks not complied with were: using less-polluting natural gas; using alternative-fuelled trucks and yard tractors; ensuring that ships slow as they approach the port and shut down their diesel engines; and requiring vessels to plug in to onshore electricity when docked.

Now environmentalists and nearby communities are wondering if pollution reduction could have been even greater had the required tasks been adhered to.

With that in mind, Port officials are planning a new environmental review that will look at removing or amending the 11 unmet requirements.