Business is booming at a South Coast port. But, it’s also trying to be a good neighbor to Ventura County residents, working to reduce its pollution.
After years of planning, the Port of Hueneme announced an ambitious goal: A plan to become a zero emissions port by the end of the decade.
"Cargo is up, and emissions are down, and that's the trend we want to continue to pursue. We want to pursue growing our economy, but with a nod towards sustainability, and bringing down our emissions," said Kristen Decas, who's CEO of the Port of Hueneme.
She said they spent the last two years developing a blueprint on how to reach the goal. "We built a realistic plan that we feel that builds that pathway for us to achieve zero emissions for inside the gate operations by 2030."
Port officials announced the plan at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard, as a part World Oceans Day Events. Decas talked about the plan.
"The key elements will be able to plug in all ships that arrive at the Port of Hueneme, or to use something called a bonnet, which is an emission control system where you put literally a hat over the stack of a ship, and it absorbs those emissions, and prevents them from going into the atmosphere."
The Port has three wharves and six berths. They can handle up to five to six ships at a time. The idea is the ships would plug in while docked, so they don’t have to use their diesel engines. The cranes and other onshore cargo handling gear would also be all electric.
Port officials say the price tag could be in the $150 million dollar range. They’ve already received a number of local, state, and federal grants, plus some from the business community topping $100 million.
The effort suffered a huge setback last year. The massive storm which hit Oxnard and Port Hueneme last December destroyed part of a new state of the art shore power system which was already installed, The Port received about $40 million dollars in state funding to help with repair efforts.
Air quality is a big issue, especially for neighboring communities like Port Hueneme and Oxnard. James Vega is Port Hueneme’s City Manager.
"It's an issue our community has been aware of. At our City Council meetings, we regularly get people coming and asking what is the port doing," said Vega. "It is happening. It's just a long-term goal."
One of the efforts that’s underway is improving the port’s air quality monitoring. Karen Grennan is with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.
"We're going to help them install four air quality monitoring stations in the communities around the port, so that we can get a better handle on exactly what kind of pollution is being caused by the transportation of freight in the area, and also work with them to help communicate that." said Grennan.
The Port is a huge economic driver in the region, and is vital to West Coast trade. It handles about $16 billion in cargo annually, with bananas and vehicles its biggest cargoes.
There are more pieces to the puzzle. The port is looking at encouraging the use of electric and hydrogen powered big rigs to help with freight being moved to and from the port. And, there is a major ongoing program to try to get cargo ships coming to and from the west coast to slow down. That creates less pollution, and also reduces the danger of accidental whale deaths from ship strikes.
