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Zucchet is chairman of the Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners and general manager of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, the largest union for workers in the city of San Diego. He lives in Ocean Beach.
The health effects of decades of industry and traffic growth between Interstate 5 and San Diego Bay on the communities of Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, Sherman Heights, and Western National City are unacceptable. That is not up for debate or up for debate. Cleaner air is needed now, and the Port of San Diego is taking unprecedented steps to establish a roadmap to 1) further reduce the harmful air pollutants generated by maritime activities, 2) identify and provide means to improve the situation , and 3) all take action simultaneously and with urgency.
Earlier this month, the Board of Port Commissioners voted to adopt the most ambitious air pollution document of its kind in California, our Maritime Clean Air Strategy. The document sets out the port’s vision of “Health Justice for All”, which is our commitment to environmental justice.
Specifically, the strategy envisages bold goals, such as that by 2030 100 percent of all trucks calling at the port and all cargo handling equipment in the port’s shipping terminals should be emission-free. These goals, centered on reducing diesel particulate matter and other noxious air pollutants, are five years ahead of the California Air Resources Board’s earliest goals on behalf of Governor Gavin Newsom.
Significant resources will be required to achieve these goals and the port will not waste time making a deposit. In the same meeting at which we adopted the Maritime Clean Air Strategy, the port executive board determined a significant part of our application for federal funding for electrification. About a quarter of the port’s roughly $ 100 million will be used to purchase several zero-emission, heavy-duty electrical equipment: cranes to replace the obsolete diesel port crane at our marine terminal on Tenth Avenue, multi-purpose tractors, drayage cranes, dump trucks, and medium and heavy trucks for our own fleet.
This is clearly a significant commitment and expense, but much more is needed. The Maritime Clean Air Strategy is setting up the port and our waterfront businesses in such a way that millions more will be attracted in grants and investments from state and federal governments in the coming years.
The port has set the vision and goals, financing strategies are in motion and we are taking immediate and concrete action.
Even before this strategy was developed, the port had begun electrifying trucks and heavy equipment at our shipping terminals with the help of our tenants and state and federal grants. We have implemented shore power so that ships in port can run on electricity instead of diesel engines. We have invested in solar energy, expanded the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles, and are in the process of starting a microgrid installation at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.
In the next few years we will be supplying our cruise and cargo terminals with even more shore power, the first fully electric tug in the USA will be stationed here to serve our cargo ships as they enter the bay, and our plan to use innovative technology along Harbor Drive to intelligently control truck traffic through Barrio Logan and National City – called “Harbor Drive 2.0” – is being promoted in cooperation with Caltrans, the San Diego Association of Governments and the City of San Diego.
These substantial investments are necessary initiatives to decarbonise our maritime sector and reverse our dependence on fossil fuels. The port will continue to forge and strengthen strategic partnerships between government agencies, businesses, the community and other organizations to advance technology, build infrastructure and implement clean air solutions.
We know the approach of the board of directors to the Maritime Clean Air Strategy and the goals are ambitious, especially for our tenants. The port doesn’t expect our tenants to go alone. It will take team effort and we are determined to work together.
Just as the port is not the only cause of air emissions in the port communities, we are not the only ones who can reduce them. What we can do is lead the way in our region and be a role model for others across the country. By setting our vision and goals, we have clear expectations of ourselves and of the people who do and want to do business with the port, and to keep our promise of equal health opportunities for all.
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