The Port of Long Beach on Dec. 9 released a draft environmental impact report on a proposal to build a grain export facility at Terminal Island’s Pier T.
The proposed Total Terminals International facility would transfer grain from railcars into ocean shipping containers and export from 750,000 to 1.5 million tons of grain per year utilizing existing rail and container shipping facilities.
The proposal includes installation of a grain transloading facility on a vacant 10-acre parcel on Pier T adjacent to the existing 385-acre TTI container terminal. The proposed project would be located on the former Navy Mole, a 2-mile-long, 500-foot-wide peninsula that wraps around Long Beach Harbor’s west basin.
Existing rail lines follow the southern edge of the site and connect to other rail lines including the BNSF and the Union Pacific networks.
TTI says the project would enable the transfer of a high quality feed for cattle utilizing the existing rail and shipping infrastructure. Under the proposal, the same frequency of shipping vessels would occur, but the containers would instead transport grain to China.
Shipping vessels currently transport empty containers from Pier T.
Construction of the facility would last about 14 months, from June 2012 through July 2013.
The port hosts a public hearing to solicit comments on the document at 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at Long Beach City Hall Council Chambers, and written comments are being accepted by the port through Jan. 23. The draft document is available at polb.com/ceqa.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
