TraPac Expansion Premature Without Port Pollution-Reduction Measures

A statement of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports

We are deeply troubled that the TraPac expansion project has been approved before the Los Angeles Harbor Commission takes real action on required pollution-reduction standards.

Last November the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach jointly adopted the Clean Air Action Plan, which delivered hope to local residents, port drivers and their children, who suffer the most under the deadly status quo. 

But over one year of broken promises, inaction and over 100 premature deaths lead us to question if the Ports’ road map for reducing deadly emissions from goods movement is worth the paper it’s written on. The TraPac expansion is a major undertaking that guarantees negative impacts on the environment and community health, especially in the near-term. The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports will be evaluating the project within the next 30 days, the statutory deadline for legal recourse.

All options are on the table – LA Harbor Commissioners have failed to adopt meaningful mitigation measures that justify giving the green light to an expansion project of TraPac’s magnitude. 

• The TraPac expansion would add to the Port of Los Angeles roughly the equivalent container throughput of the Port of Houston.

• The amount of cargo processed at the TraPac terminal and transported by dirty diesel trucks, trains and ships will almost triple -- going from approximately 900,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent containers) processed in the year 2003 to a projected 2.4 million TEUs at fully build. 

Harbor commissioners cannot adequately evaluate any port expansion project outside the context of meeting life-saving goals set forth in the Clean Air Action Plan, a crucial first step to winning the support of the over 30 other environmental, public health, community, labor and religious partners united in the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports.

Specifically, they must adopt the San Pedro Bay Standards and vote on the comprehensive Clean Trucks Program introduced last April to reduce deadly diesel emissions by 80 percent over five years – the only pathway to lift major legal obstacles that currently stand in the way of desired Port expansion.

Every week the Ports fail to act, two more people from our community die from truck-pollution related illness, an unacceptable and preventable statistic that further underscores the recklessness of today’s proceedings.

If the Ports hope to grow, they need to do so greenly. Harbor commissioners must require the cleanest available trucks and force the profitable goods movement industry to take responsibility for the 16,000 port drivers who are in no position to purchase or upkeep a modernized, green fleet.

Clean air will take enforceable standards, a comprehensive approach, and above all, moral courage and political will. It’s not enough to imagine clean air – we need action, and a strong Clean Trucks Program will get us there. 

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