Dueling tours paint rosy, dire pictures of L.A. port

Separate bus tours promoted clashing visions of the Port of Los Angeles on Saturday: One explored its historic path to success, the other decried its toxic sprawl.

A big blue bus chartered by social justice group Liberty Hill Foundation rolled through what organizers described as “sacrifice zones” of pollution and heavy industry. At the same time, a fleet of white buses led by port public relations officials celebrated the harbor’s centennial this year with a tour called “Steppin’ Back in Time.”

Their paths crossed about 11 a.m. with a simultaneous stop at Banning’s Landing on the Wilmington waterfront.

For Liberty Hill, it was a place to talk about the need to curb increasing diesel emissions, noise, and truck and train traffic. Under a blue tent a few yards away, the other group learned about Phineas Banning, called the “Father of Los Angeles Harbor” for his role in positioning the area for future success as one of the world’s great seaports.

Nodding toward the blue tent where port officials were handing out centennial buttons, pens and “Steppin’ Back in Time” pamphlets, Michele Prichard, Liberty Hill’s director of special projects, said, “They’re focusing on the sunny side of this economic engine in an effort to put a positive spin on its deleterious effects on air quality.”

Arley Baker, head of public relations for the port, disagreed. “We just want to communicate that there is a major Pacific gateway in Los Angeles, an artery for wealth and commerce.”

The Liberty Hill bus carried about 30 activists and half a dozen tour guides, including Andrea Hricko, an associate professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. Its first stop was a working-class neighborhood of stucco homes adjacent to the Conoco Phillips Refinery.

Against a backdrop of refinery towers spewing white plumes of smoke into the air above the neighborhood where children rode scooters and skateboards, resident Ruben Mireles, 75, told those on the tour about a Christmas celebration “about 15 years ago when a big cloud of smoke came over and made us sick.”

Speaking in Spanish into a portable public address system, Mireles added, “About seven years ago, there was an explosion and we felt the shock wave. The night before last, I was awakened by a bad smell and I couldn’t breathe.”

Nearby, port tour-bus guides showered passengers with cheery historical anecdotes and impressive statistics. Many of the passengers, who live in the harbor communities, said they enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the landmarks.

The busiest port complex in the nation generates 259,000 regional jobs and $8.4 billion in annual wages and tax revenue. It provides the United States with 43% of its annual imported goods.

It is also about to get even bigger.

With the recent approval of the Clean Air Action Plan, which aims to reduce port-generated air pollution by 45% over the next five years, the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex plans to expand existing terminals, build new rail yards and widen roads to allow more trade than ever.

The projects will also introduce an array of environmentally friendly technologies.

But Liberty Hill tour guides pointed out that state air pollution specialists attribute about 2,400 premature deaths a year to port-generated diesel emissions. The 16,000 trucks serving the port daily spend 50% of their time idling, exposing drivers and local residents alike to dangerous exhaust fumes.

Along a route between the docks and a rail yard five miles to the north are seven schools, where students have been exposed to some of the region’s highest levels of diesel emissions.

The No. 1 reason children in that area miss school? Asthma.

“Great tour,” said Rafael Aguilera, a representative of the environmental group Green L.A. “It’s clear that there is an urgent need to address the disproportionate impact on port communities and ensure that port and publicly funded projects don’t make a grave situation worse.”

The port-sponsored tours featured six stops, including the Point Fermin Lighthouse, built in 1874 in San Pedro to aid safe passage between the Channel Islands and the harbor; the Ft. MacArthur Military Museum, also in San Pedro, where military defenses were stationed from 1920 through World War II; and the Drum Barracks in Wilmington, the last remaining Civil War-era military facility in the Los Angeles area.

Patricia Benoit, director of a group called Friends of Banning’s Landing, saw benefits in both tours.

“The port is about money, business and growth; the environmental activists are about keeping the port clean. They can’t help but clash,” she said. “But that kind of friction is good. We need the port to do its job and the community to hold them in check.”

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louis.sahagun@latimes.com