Port of Los Angeles (POLA)

Creative Legal Strategies that Drive Green Economic Growth & Global Trade

Our decades-long partnership with the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s No. 1 container port, spotlights our role in sustainable industrial development, economic growth, and global trade. With innovative legal strategies and a diverse team, we vigorously protect the Port’s most important supply chain and logistics projects.

A Legacy of Industry Leadership & Sustainability

Since 2006, we guided the Port through its Master Plan, various shipping and cargo projects, the state’s first crude oil terminal in over a decade, and high-stakes litigation. We’ve turned challenges into opportunities, enabling the Port to invest billions in critical infrastructure while emerging as an industry leader in green growth and climate initiatives.

Protecting Key Projects & Innovative Green Solutions

We’ve led efforts to cut emissions from docked ships’ diesel engines, developed fact-based methodologies to calculate baseline activity levels, and pioneered techniques for measuring rail traffic’s impact on vehicle delays—successfully defending these methods in court against intense challenges and appeals.

Working shoulder-to-shoulder with Port attorneys and staff, we develop strategies to streamline approvals and “bullet-proof” key projects against future lawsuits, tackling air and water quality, greenhouse gasses, traffic, and mitigation measures to comply with CEQA, NEPA, Coastal Act, State Lands, and other complex regulations. Our approach saves millions of dollars while enabling the infrastructure that powers California’s clean growth.

Our behind-the-scenes legal ingenuity shines through many of the Port’s largest projects:

• China Shipping Container Terminal Project (Berths 97-109)
  For nearly two decades, we’ve guided POLA through the complexities of this project, providing comprehensive counsel on land use, CEQA compliance, and other vital components. We successfully defended the 2008 EIR certification and supported the 2019 SEIR. Currently, we represent the Port in major lawsuits challenging the SEIR.
• Yang Ming Container Terminal/West Basin Redevelopment Project (Berths 121-131)
  Meyers Nave advises POLA on all CEQA/NEPA issues related to the expansion of the Yang Ming Container Terminal. We are currently guiding the Port through preparation of a EIR/EIS for this project, located in the West Basin.
• Pacific L.A. Marine Terminal, Tank Farms, and Pipelines Project
  We were chief outside counsel for the CEQA/NEPA review of this $600 million project, the state’s first new oil shipping terminal in over a decade, with complex issues linked to oil shipping, storage, and pipeline transfers. We negotiated with regulators, developed a sophisticated analysis of the impact on refineries and fossil fuel use, and coordinated with industry experts and the community to foster broad support and defend the project in court.
• APL Container Terminal Project (Berths 302-306)
  We advised on the EIS/EIR for the improvement and expansion of the APL container terminal to accommodate 3.2 million shipping containers and 390 ship calls. The massive infrastructure project includes up to 8 new cranes and 1,250 feet of new concrete dock.
• Trapac Container Terminal Project
  Advising on CEQA and NEPA, we addressed complex issues of environmental justice and air quality. Our analysis, unchallenged by the community or environmental groups, led to a groundbreaking agreement for greenhouse gas emissions, positioning the Port as a climate change leader years ahead of regulatory standards.
• Ultramar Inc. (Valero) Marine Terminal Lease Renewal Project (Berths 163-164)
  We advised on the EIR for the renewal of a marine petroleum products terminal lease, involving complex impact analysis compared to environmental baseline, increasing throughput by millions of barrels.
• Clean Trucks Program
  Representing POLA and the Port of Long Beach, Meyers Nave facilitated the environmental review for implementing a program to convert diesel trucks to liquid natural gas, enhancing environmental compliance and sustainability.

Meeting high standards with legal excellence, our partnership with POLA demonstrates why Meyers Nave is the go-to counsel for leading organizations that drive California’s sustainable supply chain and logistics development.