TITLE
Recommendation that the City Council adopt the position that it opposes the Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) facility at its currently proposed location and that there are significant and fundamental flaws in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) which understates the major impacts of the project, and consequently, the mitigation of such impacts to the affected communities, including schools and residences in Long Beach in close proximity to the project, and direct City Manager to communicate to the Los Angeles Harbor Department the City's position prior to the close of the public comment period for the DEIR on December 22, 2011.
DISCUSSION
A major new near-dock rail facility is proposed for property, which is primarily located within the Port of Los Angeles, but also is located on a portion of property within the City of Long Beach, and is adjacent to schools, homes, and other facilities in West Long Beach.
The project, known as the Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) is proposed by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company (BNSF). According to the DEIR's description of operations, the SCIG facility would operate 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, 360 days per year; trucks and trains would arrive at and depart from the facility day and night.
The project would result in 1.5 million truck trips annually when the operations are expected to begin in 2016, and ultimately reach 2 million truck trips each year by 2023, when the operations are at full capacity. This is more than 5,500 truck trips per day.
There would be 2,160 annual train trips in 2016, and 2,880 train trips each year at full capacity, which is 8 inbound trips and 8 outbound trips each day.
This project will have a significant impact on the residents of Long Beach. However, the project's DEIR severely understates those impacts, because the baseline used for analysis is six years old, and does not reflect the many improvements that were made in exist...
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