SAcRAMENTO, Calif. – (May 8, 2024) --- Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) expresses profound gratitude to the Port of San Diego for hosting the final Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement tour. The tour showcased the port’s strides in green and sustainable operations and showed the select committee members all of the possibilities the port has to create economic vitality and growth.
“Since I was appointed the Chair of the Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement, I vowed to tour all eleven public ports in our great state, and with the completion of the tour of San Diego, we have completed this goal,” said Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson). “I cannot thank the Port of San Diego enough for showing us their facilities and taking us on a tour around the whole bay, which encompasses five surrounding cities. Our real work as a Select Committee begins as we start our comprehensive report about all aspects of California Ports and supply chain that we will present to the administration, state agencies, and my colleagues in the Legislature.”
“We are grateful to Assemblymember Mike Gipson and the Assembly Select Committee on Ports & Goods Movement for visiting our beautiful port and San Diego Bay during Maritime Month. We’re proud of the special role the Port of San Diego, and our working waterfront fills as a critical California link in the global supply chain and as a U.S. Strategic Port to support our military and national security,” said Chairman Frank Urtasun, Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners. “We also appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate our leadership among ports in electrifying port operations. Our Maritime Clean Air Strategy is the most ambitious plan of its kind in the state, and, along with various partners, we have invested nearly $120 million into electrification – like our all-electric mobile harbor cranes and the first electric tugboat in the country. It’s important that California policymakers support efficient, modern, and sustainable maritime operations while we reduce emissions to improve environmental and public health in our communities.”
“Thank you to my colleague Assemblymember Mike Gipson for bringing the Assembly Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement to San Diego,” said Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D. (D-La Mesa). “I enjoyed participating in a briefing from the Port of San Diego and the waterside tour to see some of the Port’s operations. It is clear that ports contribute immensely to our state’s economy, but they also hold the responsibility of protecting the environment and repairing the harm done to communities that neighbor ports. I look forward to their work to address these issues in the years to come."
Now that the Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movements has finished touring all 11 of California’s public ports, there will be a published report with recommendations from stakeholders that will be published in the fall of 2024.