Ruling Could Kill Port Deal for Long Beach

Long Beach’s plan to raze its closed Naval Station and build a $200-million cargo terminal suffered another legal setback last week when a judge ruled that the city’s port commission must consider the project a third time.

Acting on a request by preservationists, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien ordered the commission to consider the project “free and clear” of any predisposition and report back to him by mid-May. The ruling Friday could result in the loss of the port’s lease with China Ocean Shipping Co., or Cosco, the Chinese state-owned shipping line that planned to operate at the new terminal.

O’Brien had ruled in February that the commission improperly approved the project before reviewing the potential environmental impacts. To comply with his order to reconsider the plan with “an open mind,” the commission rescinded its approval of the project last month and held an additional public hearing, but never canceled the lease it had signed with Cosco in October.

In Wednesday’s ruling, O’Brien indicated the port would have to invalidate the lease--a move that could expose the port to a breach of contract claim from Cosco--and consider the project once again.