Port of Long Beach President Olvera urges caution on offshore wind

The Port of Long Beach’s newly elected Harbor Commission President Bobby Olvera Jr, also a Vice President in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), says he sees no reason to rush into the adoption of off-shore wind in California without a careful review.

Offshore Wind

In an interview with AJOT on September 12^th Olvera discussed his concerns. These concerns come at the same time as the Port of Long Beach has announced plans to build a 400-acre offshore wind port ‘Pier Wind’ to assemble and deploy floating wind turbines for offshore wind farms proposed off the California coast: “Let's talk about offshore wind. I think that history shows us … that when we rush into things that … we're nearsighted, right? We're not looking down the road. And something with such a significant amount of money … Public money, tax dollars from the federal government, from the state government, visions from elected officials, there is so much at stake to not rush in. I applaud Gavin (California Governor Gavin Newsom) for his vision. And we have seen the proposals for Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay…There's going to be a lot of questions, a lot of wants and needs from a lot of different parties. I think you've got foreign offshore wind companies that truly want to invest … hundreds of millions, if not … billions of dollars in this industry in the United States. But they want to do it on their terms. And I think that there's some issues and … some … difficulties. We cannot let a new industry become unchecked and unregulated into the United States. … Back to offshore wind. Yeah. I think it's important. I think it's important for … port authorities … to have some understanding of what our ports are going to be used for. This needs to be in the best interest of our community and not be driven by business and not be driven by deadlines that are falsely imposed by foreign corporations on people here in the United States to quote unquote ‘get something done’ … That's not how business is done. Business is done … with the parties all sitting down and understanding what the long-term vision is, not to rush into things.”

Electrification Versus Automation

Olvera also discussed the choice between jobs and electrification at container terminals: “I think what we do know is that with the transition to electric … (there) is equipment that is electrified and then turned into a piece of automated equipment. And then there is a choice to have a piece of electrified equipment where an operator can operate it. And the industry shows that there's both …That's not up to the Port of Long Beach. Those are questions better posed to marine terminal operators and their parent companies, which are the shipping lines and those individual unions and groups … that they have collective bargaining agreements with. But I think at the Port we want what is best for this community, because the Port drives the City of Long Beach. There are no more Boeings, there are no more shipyards …”

Olvera expressed mild enthusiasm for the Port’s semi-automated Long Beach Container Terminal complex which is primarily electrically driven: “Long Beach Container Terminal is a generation ago (infrastructure investment). Let's be real, this industry moves so quickly. We have a brand-new beautiful bridge right here in the Port of Long Beach, an engineering feat … We've got brand new Fireboat stations. We've done some amazing work already with our fourth track on the rail to address issues that are really fundamental issues to operating this Port. So, to your question of what do we see with electrification, I think people get confused between electrification and automation.”

Success of Clean Air Action Plan

Olvera said the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach’s ‘Clean Air Action Plan’ is a success: “The facts are 25 years ago, I could go to work in the Port of Long Beach as a longshoreman and at the end of the day, wipe my hand on the concrete … and it was as black as night with soot. If I do that now, that's not the case. Ninety-one percent of the diesel particulates have been removed here in the Port of Long Beach. That is a testament to not just the current commissioners, but all of the commissioners that have come before. This has been a long process … There was a lot of people on all sides of the industry that had some trepidation (and) felt there were some (clean air) goals that were too lofty.”

Support For Agricultural Exporters

Olvera’s union, the ILWU, was criticized for protracted longshore contract negotiations that recently resulted in a ratified contract.

"The negotiations for this contract were protracted and challenging," ILWU International President Willie Adams recalled in a statement The Union and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) required 13 months of talks to reach agreement. The delay is cited as driving some West Coast business to Gulf and East Coast ports.

Olvera himself says he is sympathetic to the impact on agricultural exporters and remains supportive of members of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC): “I think Peter (Friedmann, Executive Director, Agriculture Transportation Coalition) forgets that he came to what is now the storage yard. He came there and I put him up in a top handler and we showed (him what we do) Pre-COVID. … The West Coast is critically interested and worried … We know what is happening in the Northwest Seaport Alliance (the Seattle and Tacoma ports) We know that there are vast amounts of grains and soybeans at stake … I get it … you want to grow things … or you want to have cattle, or you want to move whatever your commodity is, and you want to get it to market, and you want to get it to market at the best prices … And I think Peter advocates … Peter's going to be one of the guys I probably bet on, right? He's right there and that's a testament to what he does for his AgTC members. …”

Need For Worker Training

Olvera is a big supporter of worker training: “There needs to be a place to go for workers that need to be cross-trained … There always needs to be training and I think … the Port is now going to lead the way … It is a commitment for me during the year that I'm President of the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission, (that) we're going to go outside the normal fence line …”

Olvera also wants to see more outreach by the Port of Long Beach to local schools: “I plan to go to the public schools and say: ‘What do we need to encourage more kids to identify an interest?’ And part of that's going be to (look) at a screwdriver and a miter and saw and look at these things as … tools, and get a rudimentary understanding of: ‘Hey, I could do this. I could take a piece of angle iron and I can draw a bead ... Like that was actually kind of cool. I like the (welding) mask. It looks cool. It's like I'm a hockey player.’”

He also wants to see more jobs for young people at the Port of Long Beach: “I'd love to see there be a double-digit percentage increase of high school graduates out of the Long Beach United Unified School District that at some point have a job in the Port of Long Beach. I don't think that's … too lofty of a goal. The Port is a huge industry. There are a lot of jobs connected to it … And these are good jobs.”

Career

Before his election to ILWU International Vice President in 2018, Olvera was elected to a variety of positions at ILWU Local 13 in Southern California, the largest ILWU local on the West Coast. His career as a Local 13 officer included terms as a Chief Dispatcher, Business Agent, Vice President and then President. In 1991, Olvera took a leave of absence from the industry to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. After serving his initial tour of active duty he was assigned to numerous reserve units before ending his military career with an honorable discharge in 1998.