HARBOR AREA
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Harbor Area
Hahn Hosts Meeting on Rancho LPG
AIDSWalk Long Beach
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor On May 24, Rep. Janice Hahn hosted a meeting with community members, representatives from Rancho LPG and its workers’ union, and the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the issue of the Rancho facility’s threat to public safety. Also attending was Lisa Pinto, a top staffer for Rep. Henry Waxman, whose new district includes portions of San Pedro. Those present represented both neighborhood councils and homeowners’ associa-
Tall Ships Seek Volunteers
June 1 - 14, 2012
Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area
Rancho Rep in Denial About Earthquake Zone
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tions, which have played a leading role in advocating for removing Rancho’s LPG facility. “[Ron] Conrow, the Plains rep. [which owns Rancho LPG] just kept contending that they were in legal compliance with the rules and regs,” said Connie Rutter, a retired oil and gas industry consultant who is working with homeowner activists. “He contended that, according to one source, they weren’t on an earthquake rupture zone… Janet [Gunter] and I both snorted at that,
but he didn’t back down.” Calling it “incredibly outrageous,” Gunter chimed in. “Ron Conrow, on behalf of Rancho, still contends (despite all the documentation from U.S. Geological Survey, the Los Angeles Building and Safety Department, etc.) that they are not on an earthquake fault nor in a liquefaction and landslide area,” Gunter said. “The document that Rancho keeps citing as their verification of this is the (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
map, which (for some obscure reason) does not identify the fault… However, the premiere authority on seismic mapping… is of course, USGS! “The fact that Rancho is continuing to deny this very real fact on the seismic issue [means] they have a completely twisted sense of reality and are just doing everything they can to insulate themselves from the truth.” On the other hand, another Rancho employee, Tom Vuoso, who had worked there for more than 20 years, made remarks that strengthened the critics’ hand. “[He] referenced the fact that the facility was ‘ready to move for years’… and that ‘the Port was going to move us and all hazardous facilities to Energy Island… and we were amenable to that,’” Gunter said. Rutter concurred. “He said they had thought they were going to move and they were accepting of that,” Rutter said. The Port of Los Angeles has long denied this account, claiming that it abandoned plans to build Energy Island because of uniform opposition from the energy companies. Homeowner activist Jody James recalled that, “June Smith, president of Coastal Neighborhood Council, very forcefully told everyone in the room that… ‘this facility endangers the lives of perhaps thousands of people—and the school children are to be counted as people!’ Nonsensical regulations that allow lowball counting of the vulnerable individuals is insulting! “There is no other right thing to do but relocate the Rancho facility to a sane and geologically acceptable spot. It is not possible to make this safe.” Yet, the EPA seemed firmly committed to just such a nonsensical position. “[The] EPA guys made it clear that as long as a company complied with Part 112 of the Clean Air Act, they would be free to do just about anything,” said former port lawyer Pat Nave, who played a key role in drafting the Port Community Advisory Committee’s resolution on Rancho. “Pat gave an excellent analogy in describing what Jared Blumenfeld from the EPA said,” Gunter recalled. “He said, ‘Basically, what Blumenfeld said is that if a nuclear plant was sitting next to the White House… if they were obeying the regs… the EPA couldn’t do anything, no matter how unsafe that would be.’” “I was so frustrated listening to the industry people and the regulators talking about complying with the regulaEarthquake Risk/ to p. 6
Participate in the 24th annual AIDS Walk Long Beach, starting at 7:30 a.m. June 2, at the Aquarium of the Pacific, raising funds to end new HIV infections in the South Los Angeles County cities in the South Bay and Greater Long Beach area. If you cannot walk or run, donate, participate or register. Details: http://aidswalklb.kintera.org Venue: Aquarium of the Pacific Location: 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach
The TopSail Youth Program needs help sailing its twin brigantines. The San Pedro-based tall ships Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson are the venue for the TopSail Youth Program. Volunteers are needed for the spring and summer voyage seasons. No prior sailing experience needed. Orientation meetings for new volunteers take place once each month. The 90minute meetings are followed by a tour of one of the ships if available. Come to the up coming meeting at 10 a.m. June 9 at the Los Angeles Maritime Institute offices in San Pedro. Training will be offered to all volunteers after a background check is completed. Details: (310) 833-6055 Venue: Los Angeles Maritime Institute Location: Berth 73, San Pedro
Relay for Life in Wilmington Celebrate, remember and fight back, starting at 9 a.m. June 9 and 10 in Wilmington. Relay For Life is a fun-filled overnight event designed to celebrate cancer survivors and raise money for research and programs offered by the American Cancer Society. Teams of people will gather at Banning High School’s track and take turns walking or running laps. Each team tries to keep at least one member on the track at all times. Details: (510) 677-4575 Venue: Banning High School track Location: 1250 Lakme Ave., Wilmington
Harbor Community Adult School Celebrates 100 Years Harbor Community Adult School will be celebrating 100 years of adult education in San Pedro at its upcoming graduation ceremony on June 13, 2012 at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro. The event will honor high school graduates, 8th grade diploma recipients and ESL completers. Students from the Family Literacy Program also will be recognized. The event will be a bittersweet occasion because of the state of the Los Angeles Unified School District budget. The district is looking to possibly close the entire Division of Adult and Career Education, or at least drastically reduce the number of adult schools from 30 to 10. This past year’s enrollment was 8,347students. In September 2012 enrollment could be zero.
Empowering Our Community Harbor Occupational Center is hosting a job fair from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on June 7, with about 30 companies in attendance. Bring your resume and dress to impress in business attire. Details: (310) 547-5551, (310) 547-5346 (TDD) Venue: Harbor Occupational Center Location: 740 N. Pacific Ave., San Pedro