White House announced Port of LA/Long Beach will operate 24/7 to address supply chain crisis

The White House announced Wednesday that the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach will be operating a 24 hours a day as the Biden Administration addresses the growing supply chain crisis caused by economic fallout brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters:

The port of Los Angeles and Long Beach is the largest in the United States, a facility that moves 41% of all containers to the US, according to Alphaliner. The White House said via a press release that, "Through August, Los Angeles has moved 30% more and Long Beach over 20% more containers to help U.S. exporters reach customers around the world and U.S families and factories get the goods they need."

• The congestion is a reaction to a lack of trucks and truck drivers to move goods, per the Guardian.

• Dozens of cargo ships have been anchored off the California coast.

• There is a possibility that a cargo ship caused the oil spill off the coast of Orange County last week.

What's the plan:

The White House is assembling the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and multiple businesses to move goods off the docks and end the backlog of cargo ships near the ports.

• Biden will meet with the representatives of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the ILWU to discuss the actions they are each taking to address the backlog.

• Wal-Mart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, Home Depot, and Target have agreed to increase their efforts to move their products at a higher pace.

• The ILWU has agreed to have its members work additional shifts in order to increase capacity.

CA Attorney General Bonta opens investigation into Orange County oil spill

Photo via the City of Huntington Beach

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that the California Department of Justice is investigating the massive oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach.

Why it matters:

Attorney General Bonta called the spill “ an environmental disaster with far-reaching consequences for our fish and wildlife, for our communities, and for our economy.”

🛢️:How did we get here:

The US Coast Guard says a pipeline operated by Amplify Energy leaked at least about 25,000 gallons and no more than 132,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean, per the AP.

• ⚓: The AP reported that a cargo ship's anchor caught the underwater pipeline which caused the leak, but the Coast Guard didn't investigate the incident for nearly 10 hours.

• 👷‍♂️: 1,400 plus workers, dressed in hazmat suits and armed with sifting nets, spread out over Orange County's shoreline and nearby wetlands.

• 🍊:Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley told the LA Times that beachcombers have found 14 barrels of tar balls and a quarter-million pounds of greasy sand and debris.

The latest:

⛱️: Huntington Beach and California State Parks reopened both City and State beaches on Monday.

• “The joint decision to reopen comes after coastal ocean and wetlands water quality testing results showed non-detectable amounts of oil associated toxins in our ocean water,” the statement read.

• "The only location where oil was detected was a non-toxic level located in the water just north of Warner Avenue."

• Officials warns beachgoers "to avoid areas where an oil smell is present," and "expect to see oiled materials and tar balls wash up on the beach, and individuals are advised not to handle or ingest any oil materials."

Keep this in mind: According to the Los Angeles Times, Bonta has yet to define whether the investigation is criminal or civil.

What they’re saying:

US Senator Padilla says in a statement, "It is unacceptable that Californians are once again facing the devastating effects of an offshore oil spill," and “The trade-off between oil production and environmental harm is simply not one we should be making any longer, especially given how fossil fuel emissions are exacerbating the climate crisis."

1 person taken into custody after 2-alarm house fire erupts near DTLB

Photo via the LBFD

Long Beach firefighters rushed to the scene of a two-alarm fire that broke out in an abandoned house Monday morning, LBFD says.

What happened:

The Long Beach Fire Department Twitter account posted that fire crews responded to a two-story Victorian house fire on the 900 block of Long Beach Blvd. at about 10 a.m.

• One person is under arrest on suspicion of lighting the fire.

• A fire burned the home back in March and caused enough damage to be boarded up.

• LBFD fire investigator was on the scene inspecting the site.