Judge Halts Work on New Port of L.A. Terminal

A federal judge on Tuesday halted construction of a 174-acre terminal at the Port of Los Angeles that community and environmental groups charge is being built without regard for public safety.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow’s temporary restraining order came as work crews were pouring 100 feet of new concrete in a rush to complete the China Shipping Holding Co. terminal.

The delay was needed, Morrow said, to give her time to study a request by a coalition of community and environmental groups for an even lengthier preliminary injunction against the project.

The coalition wants work stopped while a study is conducted on the possible environmental impact of the terminal being built within 500 feet of homes in San Pedro, just north of the Vincent Thomas Bridge.

Morrow expects to rule on the request for a preliminary injunction by Friday.

When in full swing, the terminal will operate two new four-lane bridges, 10 cranes--four of them 16 stories tall--and two wharves designed to handle 260 of the world’s largest ships and 1.5 million 20-foot cargo containers each year.

Coalition attorney Gail Ruderman Feuer of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the delay marked the first victory of its kind for harbor-area residents who have felt overwhelmed for years by massive port expansion projects.

“The ruling today is welcome news to the local community, which has been battling this particular project for over a year,” Feuer said. “This terminal is enormous, and you can’t ignore the environmental consequences.”

Among the 50 San Pedro and Wilmington residents who attended Tuesday’s court hearing was Jesse Marquez, chairman of the Wilmington Coalition for a Safe Environment.

“This kind of thing has never happened before,” he said. “It’s a public blessing that is long overdue--that is, in terms of public safety concerns versus what’s good for corporate business.”

John Miller, an emergency physician and resident of San Pedro, agreed, but added: “We don’t want to shut down the port. We want it up and moving. It’s just got to move in a way that doesn’t poison the air.”

However, Peter Hsiao, an attorney representing the Port of Los Angeles, expressed concerns about the delay’s impact on his client’s finances, and the physical stability of the China Shipping facility, which is about 60% completed.

“We would like to be able to finish the work we started today at 6:30 a.m.,” Hsiao told Morrow. “Stopping mid-pour will cause significant damage to the port.”

Morrow agreed to allow the concrete work to continue. But she ordered that all other work at the site be stopped “effective now.”

In the long-term, the port would incur costs of about $1.2 million a month if it cannot take delivery of the four 16-story-tall cranes on time, according to documents filed with the court by defense attorneys.

Harbor residents have been fighting the project since China Shipping won a $650-million lease agreement from the Los Angeles City Council a year ago.

Harbor-area organizations, including those that had endorsed secession from the city of Los Angeles, were angered by the City Council’s unanimous approval of the project.

The coalition responded by filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Harbor Department and China Shipping.

The suit seeks assurances that environmental reviews are properly completed and that the impact of development is mitigated.

The state court ruled against the coalition, which includes the National Resources Defense Council, San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners Coalition, San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners United Inc. and the Coalition for Clean Air.

The group is appealing the state court ruling.

Of particular concern to coalition members is a projected increase in diesel emissions--a known carcinogen--from the additional cargo ships, tugboats and truck traffic the new terminal will generate in local communities.

“The port communities of Wilmington and San Pedro are believed to suffer a cancer risk of up to 1,531 times what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers to be an acceptable risk,” said Todd Campbell, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air.

Last April, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted China Shipping permission to build Phase 1-- a 1,200-foot-long wharf--after determining that it would actually improve regional air quality by enhancing efficiency in cargo handling in an existing industrial zone.

The coalition challenged that permit in federal court on grounds that the corps should have assessed the “cumulative” impact of the entire three-phase project before allowing construction of the wharf to begin.

Ever since, port contractors have been working almost nonstop at the terminal site.

“They said it would take five months to complete the wharf project,” Feuer said in court. “In one month, they’re halfway there.”