The City of Long Beach on June 5 filed a lawsuit seeking an
injunction against a BNSF Railway and Port of Los Angeles plan to construct a
$500 million rail yard project that Long Beach says would negatively affect its
residents.
In its suit, Long Beach seeks an injunction against the
153-acre Southern California International Gateway, or SCIG, project. The
proposed project would sit just outside West Long Beach, alongside the Terminal
Island Freeway on land owned by the Port of LA. The project, if built, would
serve on-dock rail facilities at both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of
Los Angeles.
The City of Long Beach, however, claims that the SCIG would
adversely affect its residents, businesses and schools by bringing more noise
and air pollution to an area that has already suffered plenty over the years
due to nearby port-related operations.
“The negative effects of the rail yard project will be borne
almost entirely by the residents of West Long Beach,” the legal complaint
states in part.
The city also contends in its suit that the project doesn’t
comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, a statute requiring
state and local agencies to identify the significant environmental impacts of
their actions and to avoid or mitigate those impacts.
Despite ongoing objections by the City of Long Beach, the
Los Angeles City Council on May 8 gave final approval to the SCIG via an 11-2
vote; the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission likewise approved the project
in March.
The project also has had major support from local labor
unions due to the estimated 1,500 direct and indirect jobs per year that BNSF
has said the project would create over three years.
The railway company also says that if built, the SCIG would
reduce truck traffic, freeway congestion and air pollution by eliminating about
1.3 million truck trips annually along a 24-mile stretch of the Long Beach
(710) Freeway to BNSF’s Hobart Yard near downtown LA.
Originally, construction was due to begin later this year
and open in 2016, but that plan could be delayed or scrapped altogether
depending on the status of Long Beach’s legal action.
