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Comment 62 for To Consider Proposed Control Measure for Ocean-Going Vessels At Berth (ogvatberth2019) - 15-1.

First NamePeter
Last NameWarren
Email Addresspmwarren@cox.net
AffiliationIndivisible San Pedro
SubjectOGVATBERTH2019
Comment
ogvatberth2019

I am writing with regard to the At-Berth Regulation for Ocean Going
Vessels (OGV) proposed for implementation in January 2021, and on
behalf of Indivisible San Pedro and its more than 200 members, all
residents and California voters.

The members of our group support the proposed update to existing
At-Berth rules. They are necessary and overdue.  The update strikes
a compromise with industry, accelerating the date for inclusion of
exempt classes of OGV, while providing additional flexibility for
the shipping industry, a key source of jobs and vital economic
activity for our city, state and nation.

We remain concerned that some who have long opposed At-Berth
emission controls now suddenly discover the Covid-19 crisis and
call for delay, claiming a new environment and an opaque future
dictates rethinking this proposed update. Their cynicism and
opportunism is breathtaking.

This new environment is killing people. That is a certainty. 
Rather than support delay, the pandemic emphasizes the urgent need
for tough At-Berth regulation. 

That’s because Californians whose health is damaged by
goods-movement driven pollution — those with underlying lung,
asthma, heart, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure — are
the very people who are the most susceptible to the ravages of
Covid-19, and those most likely to die from it, according to
numerous reports in medical journals.

The At-Berth Regulation has been effective in reducing emissions
from OGVs, one of the top sources of harmful air pollution in
California, and the proposed changes to this regulation will save
lives and money, as well as provide significant and widespread
health benefits. 

The answer to those who would use the pandemic disaster to
undermine clean air rules is: Shame on you.  And perhaps, the
regulation should be tougher.

We cannot afford to delay or pause efforts to move forward with
life-saving regulations, and it would be particularly inappropriate
and a disgrace to delay the At-Berth Regulation in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which is not going away this year or next,
perhaps not in some of our lifetimes. 

Further and perhaps as important is that there is no connection
between the proposed regulations and the decline in business at the
twin ports.

You could cut emission rules and permit fees to the bone today and
it would neither fix the feared recession in shipping nor the
global recession, which are caused by the worldwide pandemic. The
fix is not in easing regulation. It is in defeating the virus.

This cynicism from the Goods Movement folks is to be expected. They
subscribe to Disaster Capitalism, which exploits every major
catastrophe to externalize more costs and subsidize corporations at
the expense of people’s health. These very same industry voices
have always opposed these regulations. This delay would simply
exploit the disaster to push industry’s longstanding opposition to
regulations proven to save lives.

It is hard to find a silver lining in the pandemic. Yet, there are
things about it that call to our better angels, that hang a lantern
on the true cost of letting industry externalize its costs on the
public, that tell us we must build a greener future.

These pandemic days, locals walk on Paseo del Mar in San Pedro,
experiencing the vista across San Pedro Bay to Newport Beach as it
was in Old Time California. The air is crystal clear and the
pollution is diminished. The people in the Harbor Area  are and
will be healthier for it.

We are an inventive people. We are an entrepreneurial people. We
are a hardworking people.  Surely, both this vista and a thriving
Goods Movement Industry can be in our future. 

Yes, we need the jobs and the goods, but the industry must at the
very least go electric, plug-in its ships at berth or bonnet them,
and not fall for the dodge of turning to drilled gas to power
trucks and equipment in the 21st Century.

Peter M. Warren
Indivisible San Pedro

619 W 38 ST
San Pedro, CA 90731













Attachment www.arb.ca.gov/lists/com-attach/131-ogvatberth2019-UTAFYF09UXADZwhX.docx
Original File NameaCARB letterFINALMAY1_2020.docx
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted 2020-05-01 14:39:12

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