Restoring Regional Cooperation: A Model for Clean-Air Governance in California
By Thomas Jelenić, Vice President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
Not to be trite, but what a difference a few months make. Back in July, Southern California was set for a standoff that pitted the maritime industry, labor, and the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles against their local air quality regulator. It seemed all but certain that the region would abandon 20 years of collaboration and unprecedented progress on tackling port pollution.
This longstanding collaboration led the ports, industry, local government, labor, and regulators to collectively achieve global leading levels of emissions reductions. Those efforts reduced diesel emissions in our local communities by 90%. And the ports have reduced nitrogen oxides emissions faster than the region as whole, with nearly a 70% reduction.
As Washington and Sacramento collided in opposing policies on how to manage clean air regulations, it seemed inevitable that the San Pedro Bay ports and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) regulators in Diamond Bar would also collide, not on differing goals, but on differing methods. Amazingly, that did not come to pass. Instead, on August 1st, the SCAQMD Governing Board granted the region a cooling-off period from the pending conflict. That vote gave the region 45 days to come together and once-and-for-all hammer out an agreement that would provide the framework for planning and building the infrastructure necessary to support the transition to zero emissions in San Pedro Bay.
Possibly even more amazingly, it worked. Forty-five days later, on September 15th, the staff of SCAQMD recommended that a Cooperative Agreement between the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and SCAQMD move forward. The agreement lays out a clear schedule for planning zero-emissions infrastructure development. It also envisions additional “CAAP-Plus” measures that would build on the ports’ existing Clean Air Action Plan, offering new efforts to mitigate emissions from trucks, ships, locomotives, and other sources, that would be negotiated through the Spring.
Now, the Cooperative Agreement will be considered by the SCAQMD’s Governing Board on November 7th. With an initial term of five years, the agreement has the potential to set aside previous differences on the how and refocus the region on pursuing the what that everyone agrees on: building the infrastructure necessary to further reduce emissions and support decarbonization.
The importance of this outcome cannot be overstated. The alignment of industry, local government, and regulators on the how makes success far more likely. Unfortunately, many do not see it that way. Some believe that success can only be achieved through top-down command-and-control regulation. California had such an approach. That ambitious agenda has been dismantled by its failure to generate broad support through consensus. Many saw hubris in these California regulations that sought to virtue signal through ever more impossible regulatory demands. That led to a backlash, not just in California, but nationally. This happened even though most Californians support the goals - the what - but these same Californians also saw the cost - the how - becoming untenable as we continue to face a cost-of-living crisis.
This new port Cooperative Agreement, however, represents true consensus in Southern California. With buy-in comes responsibility. The ports and SCAQMD will need to work together to achieve these infrastructure goals. The ports will need to engage their customers, the terminal operators and ocean carriers, to ensure that the plans that are developed can both successfully reduce emissions while maintaining San Pedro Bay’s global competitiveness.
The success that this Cooperative Agreement represents should be supported. PMSA encourages you to be in Diamond Bar with us on November 7th to voice your support for this agreement and a pathway to our collective goals.
Thomas A. Jelenić is Vice President for Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA). Mr. Jelenić works with policy makers, regulators, industry leaders, and other entities to help ensure that sound science and industry issues are part of the discussion.
Mr. Jelenic has two decades of maritime industry experience, including more than 14 years in environmental and planning positions at the Port of Long Beach, the nation’s second busiest seaport, and senior management roles in private consulting and logistics development. His work includes leading successful efforts to manage complex air quality, transportation, and greenhouse gas issues related to the shipping industry. He contributed to the development of the landmark San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan and the Clean Trucks Program for the Port of Long Beach. Prior to joining PMSA, Mr. Jelenić managed the CEQA review and approvals for the World Logistics Center, the largest private‐sector logistics development in California encompassing over 40 million square feet of buildings and facilities covering 4 square miles of property in Moreno Valley, California.
He is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Environmental Engineering and Civil Engineering with an emphasis in transportation and water resources.