BNSF Railway Co. has been working since 2005 to get the go-ahead to turn an industrial site in Wilmington into the biggest new rail yard in Los Angeles County in three decades.
The project now appears set to cross the threshold from plan to reality. The final draft of the project’s environmental impact report, released last month, goes before the Los Angeles Harbor Commission for a hearing and vote Thursday.
The plan to transform 150 acres of Wilmington industrial space into a facility where port cargo will be loaded onto trains from trucks will help BNSF handle more cargo faster and increase its presence in Los Angeles. It will also help the company compete with a rival railroad’s nearby yard.
Supporters say the plan will be a boon to business and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as they face increased competition. That’s because the Panama Canal is being widened and soon will be able to handle the big ships from Asia, which means they can bypass Southern California and go directly to East Coast ports.
Opponents say the new facility isn’t necessary and that it will increase pollution from trucks and trains. They plan to continue fighting it.
Meanwhile, clearing the hurdle would be a relief for BNSF, which is more than four years behind its original schedule for the project.
“We’ve been waiting a long time,” said Lena Kent, director of public affairs for BNSF of Fort Worth, Texas. She said this is one of the company’s biggest current projects. “This has benefits not only for the local economy but for the national economy. It provides the infrastructure to accommodate the growth in cargo that’s coming into the port.”
The commission is expected to approve the $500 million project. After certifying the environmental report, it will then need to approve the lease or permit, which would then go before the City Council where it is also expected to pass. BNSF said timely approval would allow the company to start construction by the end of this year and open by the end of 2016.
Final report
The company had originally planned to open the facility in 2012 but the environmental review process was delayed. The final environmental impact report was released last month.
“Anytime we can take a project that’s been delayed for so many years and get it to its final environment report is a huge step,” said Elizabeth Warren, executive director of FuturePorts, a coalition of port-related businesses in San Pedro. “We’re finally there.”
BNSF’s new facility, called the Southern California International Gateway, will include 90-foot electric cranes to lift cargo containers from trucks onto trains destined for cities such as Chicago and Houston. The trains will travel on 4,000-foot-long tracks that connect to BNSF’s rail system.
The yard would be built four miles from the ports, just north of the Pacific Coast Highway and west of the 103 freeway. That puts it 20 miles closer than the larger Hobart Yard, BNSF’s current facility in Commerce and just a few minutes’ drive from the company’s Long Beach office on the 16th floor of the World Trade Center building.
The company said the shorter distance will eliminate 1.5 million truck trips each year on the 710 freeway.
Economists and industry groups mostly have supported the project, citing a shortage of this type of facility at the ports and the need for increased ability to handle more cargo.
“It would make up for the fact that we’re starting to hit some capacity limitations,” said John Husing, an Inland Empire economist who specializes in Southern California goods movement.
Jock O’Connell, an economist and international trade adviser at Beacon Economics in West Los Angeles, said the project will help Los Angeles compete as other West Coast ports improve their rail systems and the Panama Canal expansion opens up better access to the East Coast. The San Pedro ports need to be able to ship cargo more quickly.
“All of these ports are vying for increasing share and doing what they have to do to attract shipping lines,” he said.
BNSF’s yard project is one of two rail expansions in the area. Omaha, Neb.’s Union Pacific Corp., the other major railroad company that serves the L.A. trade hubs, plans to expand its current rail yard near the ports and compete with BNSF.
Environmental impact
The project has drawn criticism from neighborhood and environmental advocates who argue the construction and then the completed rail yard would increase pollution and noise that will affect residential neighborhoods and a nearby school in Wilmington. Some have said they’ll sue if the project is approved.
BNSF has said the project will actually minimize overall environmental impact by reducing emissions on the 710 and keeping trucks out of residential areas.
David Pettit, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s L.A. office, questions BNSF’s argument that the project will benefit the environment, noting that even with trucks taking shorter trips, the number of truck trips going by Wilmington will increase.
“Those people are already suffering a lot there,” he said.
