Cash to Reduce California Container Port Pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants $1.34-million to a Port of Long Beach project to deploy cleaner cargo-handling equipment.

The funds will help two terminals, Piers A and J, to retrofit 11 rubber-tired gantry cranes with diesel particulate filters or exhaust treatment technologies. The grant also will allow the future Middle Harbor terminal to fund five yard tractors to run on electricity instead of diesel.

Piers A and J are operated by SSA Terminals. Middle Harbor will be operated by Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT), currently at Pier F. The total project cost is $3.98 million with the terminal operators picking up $2.64 million of the bill.

The grant funds technology that will reduce an estimated 33 tons of particulate matter, 25 tons of nitrogen oxide (a contributor to ozone smog) and 733 tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) over the life of the equipment.

“This EPA grant will not only reduce diesel air pollution at the Port of Long Beach, it will help accelerate these projects and allow them to happen faster than they would without the grant,” said Dr. Robert Kanter, Port of Long Beach Managing Director of Environmental Affairs and Planning. “We are also very excited that this grant will help one of our terminals make the change to zero emissions equipment.”

The Port is committed to its Green Port Policy and the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, which has set goals for reducing the adverse health effects of the Port. For example, from 2005 to 2011, the Port cut emissions of diesel particulate matter by 75 percent.