Long Beach City, Port Appeal SCIG Project

A conflict between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach over a proposed BNSF rail yard is continuing to grow.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners this week voted to support a City of Long Beach appeal of the Southern California International Gateway rail yard project that was approved March 7 by the Port of Los Angeles.

The City of Long Beach has appealed the Port of Los Angeles’ approval of the project to the Los Angeles City Council, which is expected to vote on the project in the coming weeks. Long Beach officials have opposed the project as it stands, saying it doesn’t sufficiently reduce the impact on western Long Beach.

The 153-acre SCIG facility proposed by BNSF Railway Co. sits 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.

Long Beach officials, however, say much of its impact would negatively affect nearby Long Beach residents, businesses and schools.

Local residents and environmental activists on the Long Beach side have claimed the facility would bring more noise and air pollution to an area that has already suffered from plenty of both over the years due to port-related activities.

“Everyone can do better on this project than has been done so far,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Susan Anderson Wise said.

At an April 1 board meeting, Wise, along with commissioners Rich Dines, Nick Sramek and Doug Drummond, voted to direct port staff to work with the City of Long Beach to help find solutions for the issues the city raised against the project.

Commissioner Thomas Fields recused himself because of a possible conflict of interest related to his investments.

BNSF and the Port of LA say if the project’s constructed, it 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.

Construction, which is scheduled to begin later this year, could create an estimated 1,500 direct and indirect jobs per year over three years, according to BNSF. The rail yard’s expected to generate up to 1,096 long-term jobs at full capacity when it opens in 2016.

The City of Long Beach’s appeal of the project is on behalf of the entire city, including its Harbor Department, which is the Port of Long Beach. However, harbor commissioners said they felt it was important to go on the record with their support of the appeal and to call for solutions.

“LA needs to treat Long Beach like a neighbor, not just dump the project over here without mitigation and changes,” Commissioner Sramek said.

Long Beach Board Postpones Middle Harbor Budget Vote

The Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has temporarily put off voting on the full budget for a $1.2 billion plan to renovate two aging shipping terminals, saying that more time is needed for review.

During its Jan. 7 meeting, the board agreed to place the vote on hold pending further review of the Middle Harbor redevelopment project by commissioners, stakeholders and the public. A workshop has been tentatively set for Jan. 22, with the time still to be determined.

“There will be a study session about the overall project,” Commission President Susan Anderson Wise explained. “Its phases and various contracts will be reviewed in order for the board to have a broader understanding of the entire project before voting on the project budget.”

The Middle Harbor redevelopment plan consists of the combining of two aging shipping terminals, Pier E and Pier F, into one modern terminal for the purpose of improving cargo-movement efficiency and reduction of environmental hazards. According to the port, the project upgrades wharfs, water access and storage area; as well as add a greatly expanded on-dock rail yard.

Despite the lack of final budget approval, work on the nine year project began in the spring of 2011; since then, the port has been upgrading the area’s wharfs, water access and storage area, plus expanding on-dock rail.

On April 3, 2012, Orient Overseas Container Line signed a 40-year, $4.6 billion lease with the port to operate the 300-acre terminal along with its subsidiary, Long Beach Container Terminal. LBCT has occupied Pier F since 1986.

POLB Hires New Security Director

The Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission on Oct. 15 voted to hire US Transportation Security Administration executive Randy Parsons as the port’s new security director.

Parsons, who starts at the port Nov. 5, was chosen after a national search. He replaces Cosmo Perrone, who retired in May 2011 after six years as security head.

Parsons has had a long and varied career in counterterrorism, transportation security, education and law enforcement. He joined the TSA in March 2009 as federal security director at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. In August 2010, he moved into the same position at Los Angeles International Airport where he remained until being hired by the port. Parsons also has extensive experience in the private sector as a consultant on security and business continuity.

Parsons retired from the FBI in 2005 after 20 years of service. His last assignment was as the Special Agent in Charge for the Counterterrorism Program in the Los Angeles office. Prior to the FBI, Parsons practiced law and before that was a police officer in Topeka, Kansas.

He was also a professor of criminal justice for Washburn University in Topeka.

Sramek Named to 2nd Term as Long Beach Port Board President

Following a first term that witnessed major environmental successes and a growing recovery in cargo traffic, Port of Long Beach Harbor Commissioner Nick Sramek has been re-elected by his fellow board members to a second one-year term as president of the commission.

Sramek, a lifetime Long Beach resident and long-time community activist, was first appointed to the Harbor Commission by Mayor Bob Foster in 2007. An aerospace engineer by profession, Sramek served on the City of Long Beach Planning Commission for seven years prior to his Harbor Commission appointment.

The five-member Harbor Commission sets policy for the port, which with the neighboring Port of Los Angeles comprises the busiest container port complex in the Western Hemisphere. Port commissioners, who can serve up to two six-year terms, are nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Each June, the commissioners self-elect each other to one-year terms in various officer roles on the board.

Sramek is only the second Long Beach commissioner to be named to successive terms as commission president.

During his past year as president of the Harbor Commission, Sramek has led the board in adopting major environmental, business and administrative policy programs that have tried to balance the port's declared stewardship of the local environment while retaining and attracting additional business to the port.

He described his method of leadership shortly after being appointed to the port board in 2007.

"My engineering background says I want to learn, take in data and really inform myself before I come to any conclusions," Sramek told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "From there, I vote on what my heart and instinct tell me."

Even before taking the reigns as commission president for the first time last year, Sramek was a key voice in one of the port's major environmental programs--the Clean Truck Program.

The program, implemented in October 2008, was originally developed in conjunction with the Port of Los Angeles in 2006 and 2007 to reduce diesel emission from ports-servicing trucks. However, after Los Angeles port official became adamant on including social engineering aspects in the plan, such as mandating that all truck drivers servicing the ports be employees and give up their independent owner-operator status (one enjoyed by more than 80-percent of the ports-servicing drivers), the Long Beach port board parted ways with their Los Angeles counterparts in early 2008.

In addition to Sramek's re-appointment as commission president, commissioner Susan Anderson Wise, who joined the board in 2008, was selected as Vice President. Dr. Mike Walter, who has served on the commission since 2005, was named Secretary; while Mario Cordero, appointed to the commission in 2003 and re-appointed in 2009, was named Vice Secretary.

All new commission terms officially start July 1.