You’re invited! Join Pacific Environment, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and MoveLA at a Rally and Press Conference for Our Lives on Wednesday, May 17 at 10 a.m. outside of the Port of Los Angeles Administration Building in San Pedro, CA. We will be calling on Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to swiftly implement the at-berth ocean-going vessel (OGV) regulation and start an in-transit OGV regulation to curb deadly climate and air pollution from fossil-fueled ships in Los Angeles.

Toxic air and climate pollution from fossil-fueled ships is harming our families and communities. Currently, most ships burn the cheapest, dirtiest fossil fuel available, containing asthma- and cancer-causing pollutants. As a result, port-adjacent communities in Los Angeles County face up to eight-years’ shorter life expectancy than the Los Angeles County average.

During the pandemic, shipping pollution has only gotten worse. In 2021, fossil-fueled ships added the equivalent in particulate matter emissions to the South Coast Air Basin as 100,000 big rig trucks per day. Ocean-going vessels are the fastest growing source of pollution at the Port of Los Angeles. Indeed, in 2021 nitrogen oxide emissions from OGVs at the Port of Los Angeles rose 143% over 2020 levels.

Despite the harms to communities and workers from fossil-fueled shipping, Governor Newsom has capitulated to Big Shipping polluters, announcing alongside CARB a roll-back for at-berth ocean-going vessel regulations that were supposed to go into effect at the beginning of this year. By rolling back this much-needed regulation, our leaders allow ocean shipping companies to avoid plugging into electricity while idling at ports and poisoning port neighborhoods and workers with deadly pollution. If implemented, this rule would save 237 lives, yield $2.31 billion in public health benefits and reduce NOx emissions by 17,500 tons and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions by 356,000 metric tons by 2032.

In addition, CARB currently lacks an in-transit rule to curb greenhouse gas emissions from OGVs as they travel into California waters. With the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issuing a final warning to humanity in March 2023 — reminding our leaders that global greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 and be halved overall from 2019 levels by 2030 to stay on a livable global warming trajectory — we urge Governor Newsom, CARB and the EPA to swiftly develop and implement an in-transit OGV rule.

Join us for a Rally and Press Conference for Our Lives on Wednesday, May 17 at 10 a.m. outside of the Port of Los Angeles Administration Building in San Pedro, CA to raise much-needed attention to the urgency of reducing and eliminating fossil-fueled ship pollution!