Environmental Action Might Be Taken Against Port of Long Beach

It appears that a couple of environmental action groups have threatened to file a lawsuit against the Port of Long Beach. The groups plan to sue the Port if it does not comply with their requests to decrease emissions of smog and diesel soot in the next ninety days.

The two groups that are taking action against the Port of Long Beach are the Coalition for a Safe Environment and The Natural Resources Defense Council. These pollutants that are being pumped in our atmosphere can apparently cause cancer in the long run and they are coming from commonly used vehicles such as big rigs, locomotives and various ships.

David Pettit, the senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council mentioned that, "We want the court to take over the whole thing at once in order to enforce a new priority of public health over profit." He then added, "We think that will require court appointment of a port czar to force the port to use currently available technology to fix the problem."

In situations like this, pressure must be put on the major bodies that are causing the problem in the first place. "If it works here," Pettit said, "it will work at every port in the nation where there's a diesel pollution problem."

For those of you that have passed through the great city of Long Beach, you know first-hand how bad the pollution problem is right near the port. On one occasion I was crossing the bridge around 12:00 P.M., and the smog was so thick that I could not see downtown Long Beach until I had entered it.