The decision to start this process does not – however – mean that the Pacific L.A. Marine Terminal is a done deal. Negotiations for a lease are ongoing with the developer, Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline. Board approval of a prequalification process is a sign that port engineers will be prepared to advance the construction piece if and when a lease is secured.

If built, Pier 400 would be the first new marine oil terminal in California in nearly three decades. It would also be the first marine oil terminal built under the state’s new, stringent engineering standards.

The project calls for a five-acre marine oil terminal with a new wharf at Berths 408-409 and two 250,000-barrel storage tanks nearby. At full build-out, the facility would extend to Terminal Island via pipeline to 14 more 250,000-barrel storage tanks on a 47.7-acre tank farm for a total storage capacity of 4 million barrels.

Initially, the project is expected to cost about $445 million and store up to 1.5 million barrels. That sum does not include an estimated $80 million to modernize the docks, originally due to be paid for by the port. No such spending is anticipated in the port’s budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Plains All American has been in the works for nearly nine years, a period that coincided with massive environmental reform at the nation’s busiest port complex. Harbor commissioners approved the EIR in November 2008. Delays have required the developer to renegotiate contracts with its customers.

During the last week’s commission discussion, Commissioner Jerilyn López Mendoza raised the issue of emergency response planning in the wake of the devastating BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. At her request, staff will review emergency response plans for the project at a future meeting.