BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1431
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 27, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Mike Eng, Chair
AB 1431 (Hill) - As Amended: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT : Port of Oakland: Emission reduction strategies
SUMMARY : Establishes emission reduction strategies for the Port
of Oakland (Port). Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Port and entities involved in goods movement at
the Port to establish emission reduction strategies that are
no less stringent than emission reduction strategies employed
at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach (San
Pedro Ports).
2)Defines "no less stringent" to mean achieving a comparable
quantity of emissions reductions as achieved by the separate
clean air action plans of the San Pedro Ports.
3)Requires the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD)
to determine, after consultation with the South Coast Air
Quality Management District (South Coast) and the California
Air Resources Board (CARB), whether the Port and the entities
involved in goods movement at the Port have established
emission reduction strategies that are no less stringent than
those employed by the San Pedro Ports.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Port Community Air Quality Program
in the BAAQMD and South Coast. The program requires those
districts to provide grants to offset the advanced
introduction costs of eligible projects that reduce onroad
emissions of particulate matter within communities adjacent to
marine terminals or ports within the jurisdiction of those
districts.
2)Establishes the Port under the Oakland City Charter in 1927,
as an autonomous, self-supporting department of the City of
Oakland that manages and operates a container seaport, a
passenger/cargo/general aviation airport, and waterfront
property for commercial and recreational purposes. Under the
governance of a seven-member Board of Port Commissioners
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nominated by the Mayor of Oakland and appointed by the City
Council, the Port's Executive Director, Deputy Executive
Director and staff operate three revenue-producing divisions
(Maritime, Aviation and Commercial Real Estate). The Port
occupies 19 miles of waterfront on the eastern shore of San
Francisco Bay with 771 acres devoted to maritime activities
and another 3,000 acres devoted to aviation activities. The
Port owns, manages, and markets seaport facilities on San
Francisco Bay and the Oakland Estuary. The seaport is the
fifth busiest in the nation and in the top 20 in the world in
terms of annual container traffic. The Port currently has
eight operating marine terminals with 20 deep water berths.
The Port owns and operates Oakland International Airport and
markets its facilities to tenants, including airlines and air
cargo companies. The airport serves more than 14 million
passengers and handles more than 1.4 billion pounds of cargo
annually.
3)Authorizes, through the enactment of Proposition 1B as
approved by the statewide voters in November 2006, the state
to sell approximately $20 billion of general obligation bonds
to fund transportation projects to relieve congestion, improve
the movement of goods, improve air quality, and enhance the
safety and security of the transportation system. Of the $20
billion, allocates $1 billion to the California Air Resources
Board (ARB) for emission reductions, not otherwise required by
law or regulation, from activities related to the movement of
freight along California's trade corridors (commencing at the
state's airports, seaports and land ports of entry). Provides
funds for the replacement, repower, or retrofit of heavy-duty
trucks, locomotives, commercial harbor craft, ocean-going
vessels related to freight, and cargo-handling equipment with
cleaner technology alternatives. The Port environs qualify as
one of four targeted freight corridors for expenditure of the
$1 billion.
4)Establishes the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards
Attainment Program (Carl Moyer program), which is administered
by the State Air Resources Board, to provide grants to offset
the incremental cost of eligible projects that reduce
emissions of air pollutants from sources in the state. Under
the Carl Moyer program, the state board is authorized to
provide funding for, among other things, eligible heavy-duty
fleet modernization projects, including a project that
replaces an old engine or vehicle with a newer engine or
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vehicle certified to more stringent emissions standards than
the engine or vehicle being replaced.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Background : The author contends that his bill "would cut air
pollution coming from thousands of trucks, ships, trains, and
cargo handling equipment associated with the Port of Oakland.
AB 1431 seeks to work at creating a long-term and sustainable
solution that addresses the local public health impacts of
commercial shipping activities associated with the Port of
Oakland. Residents living in the shadow of the Port of Oakland
can expect to die, on average, more than a decade before other
residents in the Bay, appallingly, this gap may be increasing.
One of the underlying causes of this disturbingly large health
disparity is the extremely high rates of respiratory disease,
primarily asthma, in West Oakland. Diesel pollution is well
known to be hazardous to human health. Groups at particular
risk include workers in diesel industries, such as trucking and
rail, and communities located near major sources of diesel
pollution, such as ports and freeways. While the Port of
Oakland approved the MAQIP which sets the master plan of air
quality earlier this month, but the port's plan ultimately does
little more than reiterate a statewide goal of 85% reduction in
health risk by 2020. The commissioners refused to act on the
recommendations of many task force members (including two of the
four co-chairs) and all regulatory agencies to include
measurable programs to achieve clean air goals."
MAQIP : According to the Port, the MAQIP was developed in
collaboration with a task force of diverse stakeholders, to
reduce criteria pollutants, notably diesel particulate matter,
associated with maritime (seaport) activities at the Port. The
MAQIP, recently adopted on April 7, 2009, is the Port's master
plan to reduce air pollution from both mobile and stationary
on/near-shore and off-shore sources at the seaport. The MAQIP
not only supports current and future state and local emission
reduction requirements, but enhances these requirements through
early implementation goals and by targeting emission reductions
that exceed legally mandated requirements. Further, it builds
upon the Port Maritime Air Quality Policy Statement ("Port Air
Quality Statement"), adopted by the Board of Port Commissioners
in March 2008. The Port Air Quality Statement sets a goal of
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reducing the community cancer health risk related to exposure to
diesel particulate matter (PM) emissions associated with the
Port's maritime operations by 85% from 2005 to 2020, through all
practicable and feasible means. It also commits the Port to
implement early action emissions reduction measures to reduce
the duration of the public's exposure to emissions that may
cause health risks, through all practicable and feasible means.
The MAQIP relies on the 2005 seaport air emissions inventory
(completed in 2007, and revised in 2008) and 2008 human health
risk assessment studies prepared by the Port and ("CARB"),
respectively, to establish baseline emissions and to set
emission reduction goals.
West Oakland Risk Assessment : The Port partnered with the
BAAQMD, CARB, and the Union Pacific Railroad to estimate the
health risks from diesel exhaust in West Oakland. Draft results
of the comprehensive Health Risk Assessment (HRA) were made
available in March 2008 and take into account emissions
generated from: Diesel trucks and buses; locomotives (cargo and
passenger trains); ships (cargo and cruise); harbor craft (e.g.,
tugs, ferries, fishing vessels); construction equipment; cargo
handling equipment; stationary sources.
According to BAAQMD, the study determined that "the West Oakland
community is exposed to diesel PM ambient concentrations that
are almost three times higher than the average background diesel
PM in the San Francisco Bay Area. The estimated lifetime
potential cancer risk for residents of West Oakland from
exposure to diesel PM is about 1,200 excess cancers per million
over a 70 year lifespan. On-road heavy-duty trucks result in
the largest contribution to the overall potential cancer risk
levels in the West Oakland community, followed by ships, harbor
craft, locomotives, and cargo handling equipment?CARB has
adopted numerous regulations to reduce diesel PM emissions and
expects to adopt additional rules. These rules will
significantly reduce cancer and noncancer risk in West Oakland
and other communities affected by diesel PM?Even with the
adoption of CARB's proposed regulations, BAAQMD is committed to
further reducing diesel PM in the Bay Area beyond those measures
prescribed by CARB. To achieve this objective, the BAAQMD
developed a mitigation action plan that involves the communities
and businesses to seek grant funding for diesel emission
reduction projects and offers decision-based tools to assess
potential health risks associated with proposed land use
projects."
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San Pedro Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) : Adopted by the
San Pedro Ports, the CAAP addresses every category of
port-related emission sources - ships, trucks, trains,
cargo-handling equipment and harbor craft - and outlines
specific, detailed strategies to reduce emissions from each
category. The measures that will be implemented under the CAAP
are expected to eliminate more than 47 % of diesel PM emissions
from port-related sources within the next five years and
significantly reduce associated health risks. Smog-forming
nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions will be reduced by more than 45
%. Measures outlined in the CAAP will also result in the
reduction of sulfur oxides (SOx) by 52 %. It is expected that
in five years, under the CAAP, diesel PM from all port-related
sources would be reduced by a total of 1,200 tons per year; NOx
emissions would be reduced by 12,000 tons per year; and SOx
emissions would be reduced by 8,900 tons a year.
BAAQMD : Despite its Executive Officer having served as one of
four co-chairs of the MAQIP advisory Task Force, the BAAQMD
voted to oppose the adoption of the MAQIP unless the Port
adopted key implementation steps for control measures as
follows:
1)The adoption of a container use fee of no less than $12.50 per
loaded 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU).
2)A policy to expend the first three years of revenues from the
container use fee on air quality improvement efforts at the
Port of Oakland that will reduce health risk in the western
Oakland area.
3)A policy to expend the first two years of revenue exclusively
on assisting trucking firms and individual truck owners doing
business at the Port of Oakland in purchasing used and new
trucks that are compliant with the CARB emission standards for
2007 and newer model year engines.
4)A policy to expend the third and subsequent years of revenue
from the use fee on clean trucks and infrastructure for shore
power systems for marine vessels docking at the marine
terminals.
5)The adoption by January 1,2010 of an incentive program for the
use of marine diesel oil with a sulfur content less that 0.5%
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by weight in ocean-going vessels transiting to or from, or
berthing at, the Port of Oakland between January l, 2010 and
December 31, 2011.
As the BAAQMD is the bill's sponsor, it would appear that the
impetus for this bill could be attributed to BAAQMD and other
task force members' inability to persuade the Port to adopt the
above and other voluntary emission reduction strategies.
SUPPORT : In support of this bill, the BAAQMD indicates that "AB
1431 would simply require that the Port of Oakland begin to
address the public health burden it places on the region. This
bill would require Oakland to have an emissions reduction
strategy that is no less stringent than the strategies of the
San Pedro Bay ports, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
The bill would require Oakland to achieve a comparable
percentage reduction in emissions. The
contrast between Oakland and its southern California competition
is stark. Whether it is cleaner, less polluting fuels in the
boats, self-imposed container fees to clean up the trucks,
vessel speed reductions, or aggressive action on shore power,
Oakland has sat idle while southern California has acted. Long
Beach and Los Angeles have taken multiple steps beyond existing
State regulations to cut pollution. Oakland has not only done
nothing to go beyond the few requirements imposed by the State,
but has announced in its own air quality plan that it does not
even anticipate full compliance with these minimal requirements.
In fact, Oakland has lobbied the Administration, the
Legislature, and CARB to be exempted from both current and
possible future regulatory requirements. For literally years,
we have worked with the Port and other stakeholders to try to
collaboratively cut emissions from the goods movement at the
Port. Unfortunately, these voluntary efforts have not yielded
either the pollution reductions that adjacent communities
deserve or that southern California communities have begun to
receive. The Port's air quality planning has been long on
process but short on defined, measurable, specific commitments.
The Oakland Tribune Editorial Board, United States Environmental
Protection Agency, CARB, Alameda County Public Health
Department, a host of local community and environmental groups,
national environmental organizations, the BAAQMD, and others all
found the results to be unacceptable. We have no choice but to
ask the Legislature to address this problem."
OPPOSITION : In opposition to this bill, the Port indicates that
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it adopted, on March 18, 2009, an aggressive air quality goal to
reduce community health risk related to diesel PM emissions from
the maritime sector by 85% by the year 2020. "This emissions
reduction goal sets a very high bar for the Port of Oakland, its
tenants and business partners to improve public health in our
local community by all practical and feasible means. CARB and
the BAAQMD, as well as many environmental and community
stakeholders, have lauded the Board of Port Commissioners
(Board) for its adoption of this ambitious public health goal.
?More recently, on April 7, 2009, the Board approved the MAQIP.
As you may know, the MAQIP is an air quality master plan that
provides both near-term (Year 2012) as well as longer-term (Year
2020) emission reduction goals to achieve a healthier community
while promoting a sustainable economic future at the Port. This
policy framework provides comprehensive and stable guidance upon
which all stakeholders can rely to achieve the MAQIP's air
quality improvement goals, and includes specific emission
reduction measures for all mobile source categories involved in
goods movement at the Port of Oakland, including those for
ocean-going vessels, harbor craft, cargo-handling equipment,
trucks, locomotives, and harbor craft?.As an immediate result of
approval of the MAQIP, the Board directed implementation of
near-term emission reduction strategies, including support for
the CARB Drayage Truck Regulation. The Board also authorized
the Port and BAAQMD to enter into a funding agreement that will
allow BAAQMD to use $2 million of funds previously provided to
BAAQMD to fund retrofit devices on drayage trucks to meet the
January 1, 2010, CARB drayage truck deadline, with a provision
for an additional $3 million to further support drayage truck
retrofit efforts or other air quality improvements. Further, on
April 7, the Board authorized an additional $154,000 to retrofit
10 Port-owned trucks with diesel particulate filters.
Previously, the Board approved an accelerated schedule to adopt
the Port's comprehensive truck management program by June 2,
2009.
Given the almost two years of public consultation in developing
the MAQIP, we are deeply concerned with any attempts to have the
extensive public consultation process which resulted in this
plan replaced by an administrative and/or legislative
requirement that the Port pursue any and all emissions
reductions strategies that may be pursued by our counterparts at
the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, including efforts not
required by law or regulation. This requirement dismisses any
concerns about cost-effectiveness, technological feasibility,
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legal exposure, and the markedly different financial
circumstances and market position between the Port of Oakland
and the San Pedro ports as we all strive to clean the air in our
respective communities and meet the aggressive regulatory
compliance deadlines at the state and federal levels?.While
well-intentioned, this legislation will certainly divert scarce
Port resources from the important task of implementing MAQIP's
programs and cleaning up the air."
COMMITTEE SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS : This bill requires PM emission
reductions to be achieved in quantities comparable to that
received by the San Pedro Ports. However, to expect equal
quantities of emission reductions from Oakland in comparison the
quantities of emission reductions received from the
implementation measures by the San Pedro Ports is ill-conceived,
especially as the business activities at the San Pedro Ports are
significantly more than the operations at Oakland. Accordingly,
the bill should be amended as follows:
On Page 2, lines 8-9, delete: quantity of emissions
reductions
And replace with the following: percentage reduction in
emissions on a comparable schedule
Related bills : SB 974 (Lowenthal) of 2006, would have
authorized a fee of up to $30 on each shipping container
processed at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland,
to fund congestion relief and air pollution mitigation projects
related to the ports. That bill was vetoed by the Governor who
indicated that Proposition 1B provides funds for port related
air quality emission reductions as well as the impact upon
businesses.
AB 1101 (Oropeza) of 2006, would have established requirements
that diesel magnet sources, including ports, must meet in order
to comply with the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Information and
Assessment Act of 1987. That bill died on the Senate floor.
SB 764 ( Lowenthal) of 2006, would have required the Ports of
Long Beach and Los Angeles to establish air quality emission
baseline levels. That bill died in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
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Support
Bay Area Air Quality Management District (sponsor)
American Lung Association of California
Breathe California
California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition
California League of Conservation Voters
Coalition for Clean Air
Natural Resources Defense Council
Pacific Institute
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Union of Concerned Scientists
West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
West Oakland Neighbors
Opposition
Bay Planning Coalition
BNSF Railway Company
Bridgeport Transportation and Warehousing, Inc.
California Chamber of Commerce
California Retailers Association
California Short Line Railroad Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
GSC Logistics, Inc.
Matson Navigation Company
NYK Line (North America) Inc.
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
Port of Oakland
The California Railroad Industry
The California Trade Coalition
Union Pacific Railroad
Waterfront Coalition
Yang Ming (America) Corporation
\Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093