Mobilizing the Region
Issue 267 April 28, 2000

Picture of an Eco-Port

Port advocates discussed visions for "green port" development at a recent meeting of a government/public working group on harbor dredging, which has become increasingly interested in transportation issues. Adding to presentations the NY/NJ Baykeeper and the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, Tri-State Campaign Director Janine Bauer set forth ten objectives to guide the Port of New York/New Jersey towards environmental improvements.

A central objective of a green port is to reduce reliance on trucks. Of containers transferred in or out of the Port of New York/New Jersey, 80% go by truck. In stark contrast, the port of Tacoma, WA moves 80% of the containers it receives in or out by rail. The number of containers en route through New York Bay is expected to double in the next ten years and grow five-fold by 2030. If trucks continue to be the overwhelming mode of choice, the state of the region's environment, roads, and commuters will worsen.

Using trucks as the region's primary goods mover increases air and water pollution due to greater exhaust emissions and road surface run-off. The EPA reports that locomotives are roughly three times cleaner than trucks on emissions per ton-mile. Pressure from trucks also helps generate highway expansion that often destroys precious habitat and adds to congestion problems. The stream of trucks in and through the region also accelerates roadway wear and tear, while increasing ambient noise and destructive vibrations.

Rail, as well as cross-harbor and coastal ferry and barge facilities, must be utilized and expanded over the coming decades. Successful shuttle trains at European ports and Los Angeles are challenging the common wisdom that rail is not an efficient mode for trips inside a radius of 250 to 300 miles. Based on a recent marketing survey of shippers, consultants have estimated that the number of ton-miles of goods moved by rail in New Jersey could be doubled.

Important steps should be taken now to increase rail's regional market share. In New Jersey, the $221 State Rail Freight Master Plan should be fully funded when the Transportation Trust Fund is renewed in the coming months. Short-term capital projects should be aggressively pursued in New York that would increase inter-modal, rail yard and rail line capacity, especially in NYC and on Long Island. These projects include re-starting rail-freight service on the Staten Island Railroad into Cranford, NJ and securing rail-yard properties in central Long Island. Finally, corporate tax incentives should be put in place in both states and in Connecticut that would encourage industries that can ship by rail to locate warehouses along a rail line.
 

Ten Green Port Objectives: 
  1. Reduce port-related truck miles traveled
  2. Boost the rail and barge share of cargo entering and leaving the port
  3. Reduce emissions from on-port vehicles through the use of alternative fuels and low and zero emissions vehicles. Create fueling stations along highways as part of a nation-wide network of "clean fuel travel corridors" for alternative fuel vehicles.
  4. Provide convenient transit for employees to most port work sites.
  5. Fill no additional wetlands or open waters. The Port Authority strategic plan currently calls for a 1500-acres expansion of the port, much of it on new fill.
  6. Use as little land as possible in expansion, instead increase terminal through-put efficiency.
  7. Revitalize surrounding "brownfields" for port, freight, and industrial use and ensure that remaining "greenfields" such as the Meadowlands and other undeveloped open space and farmlands are not used as the site of port-related warehouses or highway interchanges.
  8. Maintain sediment and habitat able to sustain sensitive aquatic life.
  9. Require the design of port-terminals and other structures to be energy conserving and context sensitive.
  10. Provide public access to waterfronts.


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