| “Companies and public agencies need to recognize the importance of investing in community organizing training for their employees as well as raise environmental consciousness about their operations from within,” said Miguel Rodriguez, the Port of Hueneme’s Community Outreach Manager, during his presentation at the Greentech conference in Seattle. “This helps build legitimate community-focused relationships within [the maritime industry]; and serves as a bridge to a future where employees and community members work together to address social and climate challenges in adjacent neighborhoods. This approach helped us achieve our highest score ever and speaks to the significant investment from the Port of Hueneme to meaningfully engage the local community in our local air quality monitoring efforts.”
The Port of Hueneme has scored highly in many categories indicating excellence and leadership in their environment.
“It was also very eye opening to see how advanced our work is in comparison to many other Ports in the United States and Canada,” Rodriguez added.
“The highly structured, detailed performance requirements of the Green Marine certification process are a perfect fit for helping the Port to assess its year over year progress in the implementation of our sustainability programs,” said Giles Pettifor, Environmental Manager at the Port of Hueneme. “Achieving our highest scores ever this last year is a reflection the Port’s broader commitment to environment, community, and progress, but more specifically to just how seriously the Port is taking the global climate crisis and the urgency with which we are seeking to act now.”
The Port is pushing to reach its goal of zero emission operations, which was unanimously voted upon in 2021 by the Port’s Board of Harbor Commissioners.
Christina Birdsey, Chief of Operations at the Port explained: “We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of sustainable initiatives in our industry and this program ensures that we are documenting improvements year over year. The outside verification process makes sure we are meeting our goals and helps clarify new goals in the coming year.”
In the latest issue of Green Marine Magazine, Ray Johnston, the program’s chair, and president of the Chamber of Marine Commerce said: “Our partners serve an important role in providing the environmental excellence that our industry is demanding in terms of knowledge, products and services…they become keenly aware of our very specific objectives for continuously improving our environmental performance and can work more effectively and efficiently with us in achieving the higher environmental performance standards outlined in our program.” |
