BNSF Railway called the May 8 Los Angeles City Council vote to approve BNSF's Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) project a significant vote for jobs and a greener economy. The $500 million facility, located within four miles of the San Pedro Bay ports, will shorten the distance trucks loaded with cargo need to travel before transferring the containers to rail, instead of traveling 24 miles up the 710 Freeway. SCIG will support the competitiveness and accommodate forecasted growth of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle more than 40 percent of the nation's container cargo and account for more than a million jobs in California.
“We applaud the Los Angeles City Council, the Mayor's Office and the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners for their commitment to green growth. With their input, BNSF's SCIG project is setting a new standard of excellence in reducing emissions and realizing a positive impact on local communities,” said Matthew K. Rose, BNSF Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We appreciate the leadership of Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilman Buscaino and the support from a wide range of stakeholders to make today possible. We are investing more than $500 million in private funds to build this state-of-the-art facility, which will help keep the San Pedro ports competitive, and we look forward to the jobs, air quality and traffic benefits the facility will bring to Southern California.”
According to Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, “SCIG will be the greenest intermodal facility in the United States and will set the standard for future projects, by including more than $100 million in green technologies, clean trucks and funding for zero emissions research. This project demonstrates that it's possible to achieve air quality and health risk improvements and keep the international trade industry in Southern California strong.”
Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, added, “SCIG will create thousands of good construction jobs and thousands of permanent jobs at a time when unemployment still remains high. We also applaud BNSF for being a leader in creating the nation's greenest intermodal facility, significantly improving air quality and decreasing health risks in our communities.”
