Water & Air Quality

By Suja Lowenthal

I want to continue improving the quality of life for residents in the Second District and throughout the city in order to make Long Beach one of the most desirable places in California for individuals and families to live. That means striving for a healthier environment.

Long Beach is home to rich habitat, including wetlands and lagoons, as well as beautiful park land. I feel it's our duty to protect these treasures. I want to continue improving the quality of life for residents in the Second District and throughout the city in order to make Long Beach one of the most desirable places in California for individuals and families to live.

Since Long Beach is located at the end of two urban rivers and adjacent to the largest port complex in the United States, protecting water quality in our harbor and beaches is not only the environmentally right thing to do, it's a bottom-line economic issue for our business community.

Nearly 95% of the debris and toxins we find in our coastal waters come from upstream sources. While in office I have called attention to the plight of Long Beach due to the impact of non-point source pollution and marine debris sent down the Los Angeles River from cities in our upper watershed.

I have hosted forums, testified at hearings, presented at conferences and worked with Mayor Foster to create an advisory committee to study our water pollution and identify solutions. I encouraged Long Beach to lead by example by using Tidelands funding to retrofit storm drains with treatment trains, authored legislation calling for low impact development, a residential grey water program and a ban on plastic bags. I championed a shift in our city's strategy from finger pointing to regional partnerships that resulted in nearly $20 million in storm water infrastructure grants to help Long Beach and upstream cities.

Last summer marked a dramatic improvement in Long Beach's beach grades, with 100% of beaches receiving A and B grades. This is an impressive 27% improvement over the previous year (73% A and B grades), as well as the third summer in a row Long Beach showed improved water quality. In general, beach water quality at the main beaches in Long Beach tends to be impacted by the Los Angeles River. This is supported by an extensive source tracking study which showed the vast majority of bacterial contamination at Long Beach beaches was a result of pollution from the Los Angeles River. The City of Long Beach has remained dedicated to improving beach water quality through the implementation of several mitigation projects.

My focus has been on the impacts of non-point source pollution and marine debris upon our namesake beach, an underused but incredibly important natural resource that serves as a recreational resource for our residents and supports our tourism and special events economy. I have also been a staunch supporter of efforts to restore and protect in perpetuity the Colorado Lagoon and acquire parcels of Los Cerritos wetlands as well as create accessible open space in the newly established California Gardens area in District 7. If re-elected, I will continue to identify ways in which the city can partner with environmental groups to keep our beaches clean and stop upstream cities from sending their waste down the LA River to Long Beach.

AIR QUALITY

As a council member, I am very proud to have authored or co-authored the majority of environmentally friendly motions on City Council since 2006, including those on plastic bags, water conservation, alternative transportation, solar energy, adaptive reuse, waste diversion, multi-family unit recycling and no smoking in parks.

Since taking office, the Port of Long Beach's ambitious Clean Trucks Program has reduced air pollution from harbor trucks by 90 percent in a little over three years. On New Year's Day 2012, the program banned permanently the last remaining older, more polluting trucks from Port terminals. The final ban took 280 of the oldest container trucks off Port roads, and all 11,000 drayage trucks servicing the Port terminals are 2007 or newer models. With the industry replacing vehicles much sooner than expected, the result has been a major reduction in air pollution.

I also co-sponsored "Air Quality Impact Zone" legislation that will evaluate existing studies on Port of Long Beach-connected air pollution in West Long Beach, Los Cerritos, Wrigley, Central Long Beach and downtown. The evaluation will also examine noise, light and aesthetic effects, engage the public, and develop a master plan to use in key planning documents. It is hoped that the plan will lead to millions of dollars in local, state and federal dollars to help allay port impacts.

Working together, we've seen Long Beach receive the award for being one of the top ten green fleets in America and the EPA awarded our Port with the Region's 2010 Environmental Achievement Award for its clean air technology program

Moving forward, I want to continue this trend by working with LA County and the Port of Long Beach to develop the next generation of conversion technology to supply our growing electrical needs stemming from increased cold ironing. In addition, I hope to introduce legislation on commercial recycling, promote complete streets and our bicycle program, and further develop my concept of a Long Beach "wasteshed".

As much as we've been able to accomplish in a relatively short period of time, there's still work to be done. Air quality in Long Beach and throughout the region is seriously impacted by port activity.

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been and remain major polluters in the region, but there have been substantial gains over the last five years. Nevertheless, as chair of the Council's Environmental Committee, I will continue to push for even greater research and development of zero-emission and alternative fuel-based container movement, more on-dock rail and cold ironing. As the representative in whose district more than half the Port resides, I have a standing monthly meeting with the Executive Director and Harbor Commissioners to discuss projects and initiatives.