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LONG BEACH - Former State Sen. Betty Karnette is among three local residents appointed Friday by Mayor Bob Foster to serve on a panel overseeing the distribution of $15 million to mitigate air pollution caused by port development.
Port authorities approved the money in May as part of the massive Middle Harbor Project, a 10-year, $750 million plan to modernize three aging marine terminals in the port's inner harbor.
Included is $10 million for local schools, senior centers and health-care facilities affected by toxic diesel pollution generated by harbor industries. Another $5 million will go toward projects designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Money will be doled out to individuals, community groups and organizations whose efforts are scrutinized as most effective at reducing the harmful impacts of industry-generated pollution, which health studies have linked to lung cancer, asthma, heart disease and other ailments.
"All three of my appointments have been extremely involved with the Long Beach community," Foster said in a statement. "Their diverse nonprofit and community experience will serve well on the Mitigation Grant Advisory Committee."
Along with Karnette, Loara Cadavona, a manager for the Community Hospital of Long Beach Foundation, and longtime nonprofit organizer and political activist Silissa Uriarte Smith were named.
The trio will serve at least two years, beginning in early 2010, to help select
This could include soundwalls for neighborhoods affected by port truck traffic, asthma inhalers for local health clinics and air filtration systems at senior facilities, health clinics and schools.
Projects will be submitted, debated and analyzed during a series of public hearings in coming months.
Among those named, Karnette is the most well-known and best-connected in Long Beach, having served 14 years in the state Assembly and Senate before being termed out in 2008. Among her duties in Sacramento were chairing committees involved in reducing the effects of pollution caused by cargo movement throughout California.
Middle Harbor calls for increasing the combined size of piers D, E and F from 245 to 290 acres while adding new rail tracks, truck gates, marine slips and on-dock equipment. By reducing choke-points and incorporating low-emission technology, air quality regulators expect the project to slash on-site emissions in half by 2020.
The plan will allow for a doubling of cargo through the site - with much of the increased freight placed on trains headed inland.
kristopher.hanson@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1461
