Taking Larger Steps for a Smaller Footprint

LONG BEACH – When it comes to pollution and public health, there’s generally room for improvement.

That was the main theme from city and regional officials Thursday, responding to a report showing that the Long Beach, Los Angeles and Orange County region improved its carbon footprint among the nation’s 100 top metropolitan areas.

Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said the report demonstrates the city’s “deep commitment to environmental stewardship,” but quickly added that the efforts are not completed.

“We are working diligently on improving air quality and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions to improve the quality of life throughout the community,” Foster said in a prepared statement.

Foster’s message appeared to be supported by an environmental coalition’s filing of a federal lawsuit Thursday seeking stronger standards on the federal government’s pollution plan.

The region has the second-smallest carbon footprint, improving its overall ranking in 2005 from 2000, when it had the third- smallest carbon footprint, according to the Brookings Institution’s report, titled “Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America,” which was released this week.

In 2005, the per-capita Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area carbon footprint was 1.413 metric tons. Honolulu had the lowest carbon footprint, with 1.356 metric tons per capita.

The Lexington-Fayette, Ky., region had the highest carbon emissions among the 100 largest metropolitan areas, with 3.455 metric tons per capita.

On a per-capita basis, the region’s carbon footprint was 37 percent lower than the average of the 100 largest cities, and 44 percent lower than the average American’s carbon footprint.

A carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of greenhouse gas, including carbon dioxide, caused by activities such as driving a vehicle or powering a utility plant. Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming, scientists say.

Long Beach has several environmental programs that help to lower the region’s overall carbon footprint, including a Green Building Policy for municipal buildings, an interim Green Building Policy for private development and Green Port and Green Airport initiatives, according to city spokesman Ed Kamlan.

Other environmental programs, he added, include a Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling program and extensive water conservation programs through the Long Beach Water Department.

Long Beach is also a member of the California Climate Action Registry and the Climate Registry, which will help the city to calculate and further reduce the carbon footprint, Kamlan said.

He noted that the recently established Sustainable Commission is working toward a plan to guide future sustainability efforts.

However, more needs to be done on a federal level, according to an environmental coalition that filed a federal lawsuit seeking stronger standards on the federal government’s pollution plan.

A federally approved air pollution plan for the Southland should be strengthened because it does not adequately protect people near freeways from diesel truck pollution, according to the lawsuit filed by Natural Resources Defense Council and a coalition of environmental and health groups.

In a petition filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the coalition challenges the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the caps on vehicle pollution because they would allow nearly 1.5 million people to continue to breathe some of the most dangerous air in the country.

“The Clean Air Act is supposed to protect air quality for everyone, including people who live near freeways,” said David Pettit, director of NRDC’s Southern California Clean Air Program, in a statement.

“Moving cargo from dirty diesel trucks to clean rail, replacing the aging fleet of large trucks in the region, and better air quality monitoring programs in communities adjacent to freeways are solutions available today that would make a dramatic impact on improving the region’s air.”

In a telephone interview, Pettit said the report focused on data from federal highways, adding that the good results also benefited from fair-weather conditions, which have resulted in less use of energy sources, including coal.

Long Beach 7th District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga – a board member of the Southern California Air Quality Management District – credited part of the improved pollution picture to shifts to fuel- efficient car fleets in the public and private sectors.

“What we’re doing … is really taking effect,” she said.

But she also sided with the environmental coalition’s frustration with the EPA opposition to letting the state set its own emission standards.

“That’s changing, little by little,” Uranga said.

Recently, the state submitted a State Implementation Plan for smog and soot – fine particles smaller than 2.5 microns – to the EPA for the Southern California Air Basin.

Many environmental organizations believe the plan has many important programs to reduce regional air pollution, but they insist it does not go far enough to reduce pollution along freeways.

In its lawsuit, the coalition seeks stronger air quality regulations, better monitoring systems in communities adjacent to freeways, and investment in clean electric trucks to replace the massive dirty diesel fleets used at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“Billions of dollars will be spent on California’s highway infrastructure in the coming years,” said Jesse Marquez, executive director of Coalition for a Safe Environment. “The purpose of the lawsuit is to make sure the money is spent well to benefit local communities while improving air quality for all Angelenos,” he added.

joe.segura@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1274. City News Service contributed to this report.

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