The Port of Long Beach is expected to release the final environmental impact report today on a 10-year, $750-million harbor expansion that would accommodate the world’s largest ships, reinforce the nation’s Pacific Rim trade and create 14,000 permanent local jobs.

If all goes according to plan, work on the massive Middle Harbor project could begin as early as December.

Environmentalists and health advocates are demanding a number of revisions and at least $5 million worth of mitigation measures to counter the project’s side effects. But with the unemployment rate hitting nearly 11% in Los Angeles County, supporters of the project believe that in upcoming debates the prospects of large-scale industrial growth will carry more weight than the potential environmental impacts.

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