California is the single largest gateway for trade in the United States, producing $1.35 trillion in goods and services annually. According to some estimates, the number of containers coming through the state’s ports could actually triple over the next 20 years.
But what does that anticipated explosion of growth mean for the communities that surround the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach–jointly the nation’s busiest with more than $183 billion worth of goods coming in annually?
Already, the docked ships in the LA-Long Beach port complex churn out more pollution each day than one million cars. In fact, the port complex–which includes the trucks and trains that transport goods inland–is the single biggest source of air pollution in the region.
While the port of Los Angeles has already made strides with the world’s first “green” terminal, community activists say the port needs to do more.
We visit this vital gateway and learn more about efforts to mitigate the all-too-human cost of its environmental impact.
- Harboring Pollution: the Dirty Truth about U.S. ports and Strategies to clean up U.S. Ports, The National Resources Defense Council (PDF)
- Local 13 Wilmington, the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
- The Port of Los Angeles
- The Port of Long Beach
- Port Industry Statistics, American Association of Port Authorities
- California State Goods Movement Plan, California Air Resources Board (PDF)
- California’s Global Gateways: Trends and Issues, Public Policy Institute of California
- Your Port Coloring Book, American Association of Port Authorities (PDF)
- Satellite photo of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Google Maps