Pollution from diesel trucks from America’s busiest port complex has polluted the air in nearby neighborhoods in Southern California for decades. So when port officials asked for comment on cleaning up that contamination, hundreds of people wanted to participate.
Los Angeles and Long Beach officials hoped residents would help them decide whether should require zero pollution electric trucks or promote vehicles powered by natural gas, a fossil fuel.
What officials did not know was that some of the local residents who asked for support for the Gas trucks were being paid for by a company contracted by the natural gas industry.
A joint investigation by The Times and media outlet Floodlight in association with The Guardian found that in 2017, Method Campaign Services organized at least 20 local residents to power trucks of “emissions c “Zero” in the ports.
His comments at public meetings and press conferences reinforced the industry’s successful lobbying for trucks that run on natural gas, which is less polluting than diesel, but still contributes to lung-damaging emissions and climate change.
San Pedro resident Sholeh Bousheri, who was hired by Method to speak at public hearings, was a from several paid activists who said they learned much later that their work was part of a natural gas industry effort.
Bousheri said Method led her to believe she would be “defending sustainability ”as part of an environmental campaign. He added that he rebuilt the role of the gas industry when he was paid to hand out brochures with the logo of the nation’s largest gas company, Southern California Gas Co., which is often referred to as SoCalGas.
“It didn’t make me feel comfortable. For ethics, I took a step back, “he said. “I was like, ‘Wait, what’s going on?’ Is this something I want to support with you? Is it moral? ”
Method’s work was funded by Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which owns natural gas service stations and has been a SoCalGas ally in resisting the state transition of the fossil fuel infrastructure. Clean Energy paid at least $ 10, 000 to Method in 2017, based on financial disclosures.
The total amount spent is unclear, because California only requires public officials to list sources of income of $ 10, 000 or more, not the amount of money they received. The financial disclosures were submitted by Samantha Millman, wife of Method founder Brian VanRiper. She is a member of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission.
VanRiper declined to answer detailed questions about her company’s work, saying in an email that it would be “inappropriate for me to discuss the strategy of any customer ”and directed the questions to Clean Energy Fuels.
Greg Roche, Vice President of Sustainability of Clean Energy, acknowledged in an interview that Method did “outreach to the community” as part of the gas industry campaign, but said he knew nothing about the firm that pays local residents. Clean Energy declined to respond to emailed follow-up questions about whether it directed Method’s activities.
The The Times and Floodlight found no evidence that SoCalGas paid Method or knew of its hiring of local residents. The gas company did not answer questions about whether it had any involvement in Method’s work.
The gas industry ultimately won the debate in the ports. Citing community support as a factor, officials approved a plan that opened the door to natural gas trucks.
As the economy and public opinion turn against fuels that warm the planet, America’s natural gas industry is on the defensive. Businesses and trade groups have convinced several states to pass laws that prevent local governments from banning the gas in new homes and argued that gas should be included in the “clean electricity standard” proposed by President Biden.
Industry sometimes turns to more understanding messengers to present their case.
For example, the American Gas Association paid Instagram influencers to post about how much they love to cook on gas. In New Orleans, a public relations firm working on behalf of Entergy Corp. paid actors to come forward to a meeting and urge officials to approve a gas-fired power plant, although Entergy claimed he did not know about the deal.
Natural gas companies say they are trying to preserve consumer choices and promote access to affordable and widely used fuel. Gas is the largest source of energy in California and across the country, and it is often burned for electricity when solar and wind farms are not generating power. More American homes are heated by natural gas than any other fuel.
But gas is also one of the main drivers of the climate crisis, which has caused a increasing death toll and economic devastation from worsening forest fires, droughts, floods and heat waves.
Critics They say the gas industry is working to prevent climate action with campaigns known as ‘Astroturfing’, aimed at creating the appearance of grassroots support. Robert Brulle, a visiting professor at Brown University who researches climate denial and misinformation, said the campaign in ports is an example of why these types of campaigns can be so effective.
“It is turning economic power into political power in a way that systematically distorts public dialogue,” he said.
Defending the gas industry
State data show that the mostly Latino low-income neighborhoods surrounding the ports, including San Pedro, Wilmington, and parts of Long Beach, have some of the highest “pollution loads” in California, a measure that includes diesel particulate matter and ozone in the air. Much of that pollution comes from trucks moving cargo north along the highway 710. Neighborhoods also have some of the highest asthma rates in the state.
The Battle of 2017 by limiting air pollution in these areas became a significant opportunity for the gas industry to boost investment in its products.
The California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, whose sponsors include Clean Energy Fuels and SoCalGas, said its plan would reduce asthma-inducing pollution and climate emissions much faster than a separate proposal being considered by port officials.
The benefits would be even greater, supporters said, if trucks could be powered by renewable gas, which is sourced from non-fossil sources, such as dairies and landfills, but still generates emissions.
On the other hand, activists for climate and environmental justice they lobbied for electric trucks that would harness solar and wind energy in the electrical network . Several local groups advocating for low-income communities and people of color argued that natural gas-fueled trucks would still generate too much pollution.
Despite that opposition, several dozen people who identified themselves as nearby residents called for support for zero pollution trucks while echoing the gas industry talking points, according to an analysis by the Climate Research Center, a watchdog group.
The Times and Floodlight could not confirm that all of those residents were part of an organized campaign. But one of them shared an email from a Method employee that included an attachment with a list of 19 people the company had scheduled to attend port commission meetings.
Almost all of them finally spoke, as did Bousheri, almost uniformly identifying themselves as local residents and taking positions aligned with the ACT Now Plan of the gas industry, which stands for Advanced Clean Trucks.
Bousheri was one of four dockside residents interviewed for this article who said they were paid by Method to attend and speak at meetings public. Bousheri, a recent college graduate, found the job on Indeed.com and said she was making $ 20 the time.
Three other local residents who spoke at the meetings also said that Method paid them $ 20 The time. Two said they found the job advertised online as an “environmental scholarship.”
Another paid activist, Danielle Márquez, was not hired by Method, but said the ACT Now campaign gave her cards $ Visa Gift 22 when attending events and speaking at public meetings. She called the gift cards a “benefit” that she invested in gasoline.
Márquez, a single Latino mother of four in Hawthorne, said she attended a public speaking training organized by the campaign of the industry in which you were taught to make your comments “personal”. She took her children with her to the hearings.
Márquez did not know until she was contacted for this story that she had worked in name of the natural gas industry. But she wasn’t surprised.
“These companies just have a lot of bloodied money that they want to give away,” said Márquez. “They can’t say it directly, can they? They have to have other people fight it. ”
An activist hired by Method, who lives in San Pedro, asked not to be identified in this story because he was concerned about retaliation from the industry of the gas, said that it occurred account of the link with the industry when the ACT Now campaign shared a tent with a gas company at an event.
” I was so broke at the time that my morale of the situation was skewed towards the benefits of receiving a paycheck, ”he said. “I feel a bit used, but the overall goals of the port were to adopt a cleaner air policy, so I still feel like it was a victory.”
He admitted to fabricating some of his comments public, telling port officials that his wife suffers from asthma when she doesn’t.
“She has really bad allergies,” he said in a recent interview. “The people who live here are mostly people of color, poor or elderly and they will not speak at those events. So turning the story around didn’t bother me much because I felt like I was speaking for the voiceless. ”
A threat to the bottom line
Heavy trucks are one of several battlegrounds between climate advocates pushing for an all-electric natural gas future and fossil fuel companies insisting they have a role to play in reducing emissions.
The more money is channeled to electricity technologies, the smaller the market for companies such as Clean Energy Fuels that seek to take advantage of natural gas.
“They need to hook as many people as possible on natural gas trucks in the coming years, because I think they really see electrification as a threat to their ability to sell products,” said Adrián Martínez, lawyer of the nonprofit firm, Earthjustice that has worked with groups c community lobbying for electric trucks in ports.
Clean Energy has outlined environmental rules designed to limit emissions from vehicles as a “risk factor” for your business, and said in a recent financial report that the adoption of natural gas in heavy trucks has been slower than anticipated.
Clean Energy, together with SoCalGas, is one of the two main members of the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, which is suing the California Air Resources Board for a regulation that supports zero-emission trucks .
Like many companies gas companies facing climate action lawsuits, the two companies have argued that their products can reduce air pollution and slow global warming by displacing dirtier fuels like e l coal and diesel.
Both have carried out investments in non-fossil gas, and Clean Energy says that the 74% of gas sold at its gas stations nationwide now is renewable , including all fuel supplied to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Clean Energy’s Roche said that people living near ports want cleaner air as soon as possible and shouldn’t have to wait for battery trucks to be cheap enough for their mass adoption. If port officials required exclusively electric vehicles, he said, they would be “kicking the can toward 2035 ”.
“ We are very affordable and competitive compared to the status quo and we can implement them today Roche said.
Climate and environmental justice activists respond that there are several heavy duty electric trucks available now , and more on the way. Even in 2017, they say, it was clear that those zero-emission options would be available soon.
They are also skeptical of renewable gas, which they see as a dummy solution that does not remove contamination from the exhaust pipe and can perpetuate environmental problems elsewhere .
Meanwhile, many experts have found that increasing reliance on fossil gas threatens with bringing the worst consequences of climate chaos .
The ports defended their process
Heather Tomley, Port of Long Beach Director General of Planning and Environmental Affairs , emphasized that there was broad public participation outside of the few important audiences.
“Our board considered that it was the right choice in the short term, “said Tomley. “It was not a decision about promoting a particular technology. It was a decision about what we can do to make sure they don’t just upgrade to a slightly lower emissions diesel truck. ”
Chris Cannon, Director of Environmental Management, Port of Los Angeles , said officials were supposed to listen to everyone and would not “speculate on what’s behind those comments.” The Port of LA asked commenters to indicate if they were being paid and, if so, who was doing it, but compliance was voluntary.
Nicole Rice, president of the California Natural Gas Vehicles Coalition, said in an email that “there is nothing unusual about paid advocates attending government meetings,” although she did not know the details. of what happened in 2017 because he recently joined the organization. The Times and Floodlight found no evidence that the coalition paid Method or directed its work.
So far, ports have not experienced a major transition to natural gas trucks, despite the Clean Air Action Plan adopted in 2017. Of the more than 19, 000 registered trucks to transport cargo from ports, only 150 are modern natural gas and 25 are battery electric.
Still, Clean Energy Fuels is thriving. The Newport Beach, California-based company has seen its share price triple since the November election. Recently, it closed agreements to provide renewable gas to Amazon already more than a dozen other buyers , including a trucking company in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
In Southern California, the fate of the company may depend in part on what port officials do. A recent financial disclosure of Millman, the city planning commissioner married to Method’s boss, shows that her spouse’s business received additional payments from Clean Energy in 2019. Clean Energy declined to say if it hired Method for another port campaign.
Emily Holden contributed to this report.