SAN PEDRO, Calif. — On a recent afternoon, two massive ships offloaded steel cargo containers at the sprawling Port of Los Angeles.
It’s a normal sight at a shipping port in the United States — with a few key differences.
The ships’ smokestacks emit no visible dirty exhaust.
The huge vessels had switched off their engines and instead were plugged into electric power at the Yusen Terminal docks. This meant they were temporarily stopping the emission of dangerous particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other air pollutants into the abutting communities.
These “shore power” efforts started more than seven years ago to clean up the air in the San Pedro Bay area, which includes the neighboring Port of Long Beach and makes up the busiest port network in the Western Hemisphere.
The project was propelled largely by a community outcry against the single biggest source of pollution in a region infamous for its smog: the shipping industry. And it’s one step in what environmental activists hope will lead to a cleaner port and set an example to other communities across the country as the shipping industry grows and surpasses pre-COVID volumes.
Tee (Taylor) Thomas, a co-director of the nonprofit East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice in Long Beach, told GBH News in December that changes occurred despite strong resistance from the business community.
“California sets the standard … and shows that what’s possible here in this large state can be enacted in other states,” she said. “The goods movement industry has not collapsed ever. People still make money. And we can have benefits of clean air on top of it.”
Across the country, as oceangoing cargo and cruise traffic grows to meet global demands for goods and tourism, port communities are pushing back, citing terrible health outcomes such as asthma, heart disease and cancer linked to emissions from the ships and trucks and trains moving cargo to and from ports.
The industry is starting to listen. Just last month, Massport announced a $60 million investment to build two electric shore power stations – similar to those in Los Angeles – for its growing cruise ship business by 2029. The agency’s move marks the first time in recent years that policymakers directly addressed growing concerns around this industry’s impact on public health as oceangoing ship traffic in Boston Harbor increased 25 percent in 2023 over the previous year.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, A Democrat representing coastal areas in Boston and the South Shore, echoed those concerns at a Boston press conference in December.
“Rather than having (ships) blowing diesel fumes out over the city, they’ll be able to plug in (to) a power source instead of using diesel oil,’’ he said. “This is going to be a huge upside for the neighborhood of South Boston and the city of Boston generally, and for our environment.”
California port advances
Propelled by environmental justice activists, California and its port cities have pushed for decades for emissions reductions at the port through regulations and incentives such as grants for lower and zero-emissions infrastructure.
In 2017, California started to require ships at berth to tie into electric power at the docks.
It’s helping to reduce emissions but the effort is not a panacea. Even as ships plug in to shore power, they still emit highly-polluting exhaust as they transit in and out of the ports, accounting for about half of the daily particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions at both ports in San Pedro Bay, according to a government report issued in March .
Thousands of cargo-handling equipment are still powered by diesel as are tens of thousands of trucks hauling containers at the port, says David Libatique, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles.
And the shipping trade is growing — up 19 percent this year at the Los Angeles port with 8.5 million containers moved on and off ships.
Libatique told GBH News that the port has set challenging zero emission goals for port operations by 2030 and for trucks hauling cargo in and out by 2035. “We’re climbing uphill,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of partnership.”
Environmental activists and port officials say they are working together to achieve that goal.
Just over a month ago, eight ports in California won $1 billion in Clean Ports grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – a big portion of the $3 billion awarded to 55 port operators nationwide. That brought $412 million back to the Port of Los Angeles to buy zero-emissions infrastructure and cargo handling equipment to help shift away from diesel and heavy fuel oil, the lifeblood of the shipping and trucking industries.
California environmental groups like East Yard played a huge role in securing the EPA Clean Ports funding, lobbying their local U.S. congresswoman, Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragán, to add the spending to the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, which included a $380 billion in clean energy programs.
“That was a direct result of our advocacy,” Thomas said. “(There’s) a lot of decision-making power in larger cities that are dominated by blue, more progressive people. So, we have the benefit of being able to push for more stringent policies.”
That EPA funding means the Port of Los Angeles and its seven marine terminal operators are about to see an infusion of hundreds of electric and battery powered trucks, cargo-handlers and charging stations, state officials say.
Libatique said the federal money will have a major effect on the port and nearby communities. The new zero-emissions equipment is expected to reduce annual diesel fuel usage at the port by 3.5 million gallons and cut annual nitrogen oxide emissions by 55 tons, according to port documents. “That level of investment is transformative,” he said.
At Yusen Terminal, a few electric-powered cargo handlers — with engines that hum instead of rumble — are already at work hoisting containers onto stacks.
And in Long Beach, a new trucking company called Hight Logistics, won state vouchers to offset the cost of buying 27 heavy, electric trucks to service the container ports.
Driver Marco Garrido told GBH News that he switched from hauling cargo with diesel trucks more than a year ago and feels healthier driving electric.
“It’s a totally different experience when it comes to health. Those (diesel) fumes will definitely give you a headache at the end of the day. And the noise gets a little overwhelming,” he said, returning from a delivery. “With electric trucks, I have not experienced any issues that I can complain about.”
Adrian Martinez, an attorney with a national environmental advocacy nonprofit Earthjustice, based in San Francisco, said that the zero-emission technology being embraced in California ports should be an example for ports like Boston.
“The equipment that runs even at small ports can be old (and) very heavily polluting,’’ he said. “With diesel pollution, the closer you are to it, the more dangerous it is.”
Massport offering few details
At a press conference at Boston’s scenic port in the Seaport in November, a group of local officials announced plans to allow some specially equipped cruise ships to plug in and switch off diesel engines while docked.
But Massport — which controls about three-fourths of the shipping traffic on Boston Harbor — so far has been unable to provide details about how the process will work.
The agency has set a goal of 2031 for zero emissions on its port-side operations, excluding oceangoing ships’ exhaust. But it has not yet studied or issued any report on how close their maritime operations are to meeting that goal. It said that analysis will start late next summer after a consultant finishes an inventory of emissions generated by the shipping ports.
Officials declined a GBH News request for an interview for this story. At the press conference, Massport CEO Richard Davey said the agency is committed to reaching those emissions goals, tying them to the impact on nearby residents.
“We know that our activity impacts the communities,” said Davey. “And making this commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in the cruise is critical.”
Gladys Vega, who directs the Chelsea nonprofit La Colaborativa that has long fought pollution, said officials and activists here need to follow California’s lead and get more aggressive about the ports.
“California is by far one of those big states that is doing innovative climate change and tracking what is happening at the ports. They serve like watchdogs,” she told GBH News last week. “I think we’re missing a lot of opportunities (for) environmental justice that we ought to be doing.”
Many acknowledge that a new Trump administration may make it even more difficult to get things done.
In Los Angeles, environmental justice groups say they aren’t letting up. Earlier this month, more than 70 protesters rallied outside the offices of the South Coast Air Quality Management District and chanted slogans in Spanish and English, calling for clean air over corporate greed.
They pressed board members to enforce tougher emission limits at the ports beyond the investments in zero-emissions infrastructure.
“Every day people are dying in the communities. People should not have to give up their lives for the port to make money,” said Theral Golden, a retired transit worker, at the rally. “In West Long Beach, we have four schools at the back doors of railroad tracks, bringing goods and services in and out of the ports.”
After the rally, Alison Hahm, an attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council, urged board members to side with the communities affected by the pollution, not with the port industry.
“Emission reductions have stagnated for many years,” she said. “My question today for industry is, 'If you’re not ready for regulation, then when?’”
This is part of an ongoing series, Poisoned Ports, by the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting. Burrell can be reached at Christopher_Burrell@wgbh.org.
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
