The Port of Long Beach has approved an addendum to the 2025 cooperative agreement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, with that change going next to the Port of Los Angeles.
The AQMD has already approved the additions to the plan that drew some criticisms from environmentalists when it was approved in late 2025. The addition adds incentives and funding into the program that seeks to reduce emissions from port-related operations.
The Long Beach harbor commission approved the new provisions on Monday, Aug. 10, and the Los Angeles harbor commission is scheduled to take up a vote at its meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13. The new cooperative agreement addendum to the original measure was passed by the AQMD on Friday, Aug. 7.
The addendum proposes three new incentive-based and a funding measures for ocean-going vessels and trucks; defines a role for AQMD during development and implementation; and commits to a pubic process, enforcement and reporting during the five-year term of the original 2025 agreement adopted by all three parties.
The vote came three days after the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Governing Board approved the new portions, adding incentives for cleaner ships and zero-emission trucks, along with a $40 million investment in regional charging and fueling infrastructure.
The South Coast AQMD is the regulatory agency responsible for improving air quality for large areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
“These measures are an evolution of the collaborative framework established last year and enable us to make progress toward zero emissions through concrete, measurable and transparent actions,” Long Beach harbor commission President Steven Neal said in a statement. “We appreciate the partnership with SCAQMD staff to get to this point, which involved more than six months of public input, meetings and discussions.”
The update authorizes new actions aimed at reducing emissions from goods movement at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
The overall 2025 agreement commits the two ports to developing and implementing plans for zero-emissions infrastructure for equipment types in three phases, starting with a draft plan in May 2027. That would be followed by approved plans in place for all categories by the end of 2029.
“This is a milestone more than a decade in the making,” South Coast AQMD Governing Board Chair Vanessa Delgado said in a written statement in 2025 when the rule was approved, “and reflects a collective commitment to cleaner air for the South Coast region.”
But not everyone was fully on board with the original agreement.
Environmental groups, including the Coalition for Clean Air, criticized the agreement at its adoption in 2025, calling it a closed-door “cooperative agreement” with the San Pedro Bay ports. The coalition, in a news release, said the South Coast AQMD had “surrendered its regulatory authority to the ports.”