Does the Left Hand Know What the Right Hand Is Doing?

By Michele Grubbs, Vice President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association

California, along with the City and Port of Long Beach, are moving forward to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the Port of Long Beach, billions of dollars will be spent towards a goal of zero emissions by 2030, even though the Port’s marine terminal’s greenhouse gas contributions are measured in terms of fractions of one percent of the State’s overall greenhouse gas inventory.

At the same time, reports by various state agencies warn of rising sea levels due to climate change – and the need for coastal communities to protect themselves from sea level rise and more extreme weather events. Last week, the California Coastal Commission approved an updated Sea-Level Rise Policy Guidance document warning coastal cities that they should be prepared for the possibility that oceans will rise between 3 and 10 feet by 2100, resulting in the loss of as much as two-thirds of Southern California beaches.

Ironically, the efforts of the Port of Long Beach to achieve zero emissions in order to mitigate the effects of climate change could be washed away by another effort to remove or modify the Long Beach Breakwater. In September, the City of Long Beach and the US Army Corps of Engineers released six alternatives they are evaluating with regard to the Breakwater in order to restore and improve the harbor’s aquatic ecosystem structure. Two of the alternatives include removing thousands of feet of the protective structure.

Because of the swells last month created by Hurricane Sergio, which was hundreds of miles from Long Beach, lines snapped from a vessel at berth, placing waterfront and vessel personnel in danger, while at the same time, seven-foot sand berms and round-the-clock efforts were taken to protect waterfront homes on the Long Beach Peninsula.

The problems due to Hurricane Sergio highlight the complex work of the US Army Corps of Engineers, who are evaluating changes and modifications to the Long Beach Breakwater. The US Army Corps of Engineers is using science and wave modeling to determine the potential impacts of removing a significant portion of the protective structure that has been in place for approximately seventy years.

The City of Long Beach is also part of this evaluation process – one that must balance protection of life and property of port workers, Long Beach residents, and homeowners, while attempting to improve the ecosystem and create waves for recreational activities.

Since the creation of the Long Beach Breakwater, billions of dollars have been invested in infrastructure and thousands of jobs have been created because of the protection it provides. The Port of Long Beach container operations employ thousands of highly skilled workers, Carnival Cruise Line attracts thousands of passengers to the City, oil islands were created providing needed revenue and, most importantly, Naval operations are still being conducted protecting our national security. All of these operations are dependent upon a calm and protected harbor. Adding wave energy would severely risk their ability to perform safe operations.

As the US Army Corps of Engineers prepares to release their evaluations of these six alternatives in early 2019, the newly approved State of California Sea Level Rise Guidance should be incorporated in their environmental review process. This guidance provides science-based methodology for governments to analyze and assess the risks with sea-level rise. Based on this new guidance, a seventh alternative should be examined – one that would raise the breakwater instead of removing it to allow the structure to continue doing what it has done for the past seventy years – protect our jobs, infrastructure, homes, and shoreline.