TITLE
Recommendation to request the Board of Harbor Commissioners to adopt the Port of Long Beach Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project Mitigation Measures.
DISCUSSION
The City Council held a public hearing on May 12, 2009 to consider the appeal of the Port of Long Beach's (POLB) certification of the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project Environmental Impact Report (EIR). In a memorandum to the City Council and reiterated at the hearing, the City Attorney opined, "Since the Long Beach Charter provides the Board [of Harbor Commissioners] has final decision-making authority over the project and related mitigation measures, the City Council does not have the legal authority to approve or reject the project or make any changes to the project or the mitigation measures." The duty ofthe City Council was limited to the consideration of the adequacy of the EIR.
At the hearing, we had expressed our intent to bring for the City Council's consideration a request for the Port of Long Beach's to adopt recommendations that would strengthen the Port's efforts to mitigate the impacts of the proposed project:
1. Adopt the recommendations for community participation and involvement outlined in the POLB commissioned "A White Paper on Environmental Justice: Opportunities on Port of Long Beach Projects" (White Paper) particularly the section "Public Participation Principles" which includes a recommendation on "Empowering the Public placing the final decision making in the hands of the public".
2. Increase the amount of grant funds available for the community mitigation measures under the Guidelines for Long Beach Grant Programs to include homes and related impacted community assets and to prepare an off-port impact study to identify appropriate projects.
3. Define membership in a community advisory committee to include member(s) from Zone 1 of the impacted areas and develop a formal roll for the impacted communities consistent with the principles of "meaningful involvement" under Executive Order 12898 as defined by (1) potentially affected community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions about a proposed activity that will affect their environment and/or health, (2) the public's contribution can influence the regulatory agency's decision, (3) concerns of all participants involved will be considered in the decision making process, and (4) decision makers must seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.
4. Provide increased opportunities for community engagement beyond promotional collateral provided via the California Environmental Quality Act's requirements or encouraged for public notification. The White Paper on Environmental Justice cites, "strategies implemented to inform the general public about the proposed project and the Port's activities may differ from strategies to involve a Citizen's Advisory Committee to ensure their issues are considered in project development." To reinforce the importance of meaningful community engagement, the White Paper defines the principles of Reaching Out to Communities, "Beyond complying with specific environmental justice public outreach requirements, promoting more community involvement at all levels fosters a mutually beneficial relationship between public agencies and the communities they serve."
5. Finalize a Project labor Agreement before construction begins to ensure professional and timely completion of the project.
6. Adopt language that "to the extent that shore power is not used for 100% of the vessel calls, equivalent emissions reductions would be fully achieved thru other means, e.g. the ACTI AMECS technology.
7. Make every effort to adopt San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan standards as soon as possible and report back progress on a quarterly basis to the Environmental and Harbor & Tidelands committees of the City Council.
8. Commit to an electrification master plan for the port and prepare a plan for increasing the alternative fuel vehicles to reach a 50% "onroad" goal and take all feasible actions to implement alternative fuels and electrification of transport and cargo handling.
9. All contractual opportunities should be identified utilized to expedite low emission locomotives and commit to electric technologies at least to transport containers to and from ICTF & SCIG IF they are built.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
COUNCILMEMBER TONIA REYES URANGA, SEVENTH DISTRICT
COUNCILWOMAN RAE GABELICH, EIGHTH DISTRICT