Two Decades Later Another China Shipping Lawsuit Looms By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Twenty years ago, the Port of Los Angeles tried to build the China Shipping Terminal without doing an environmental impact report as required by law. They were only halted when three local activists approached the Natural Resources Defense Council and secured their help in suing the port, forcing a settlement in 2003 for $63 million. But that settlement was not fully honored, which is why NRDC filed suit once again on Sept. 16, charging multiple violations of the California Environmental Quality Act. “This case is the most recent installment in a twentyyear battle,” NRDC wrote in its brief. “The Port of LA’s continued disregard of public health as a consequence of their vast industrial growth is more than appalling,” said Janet Gunter, one of the three original local activists. In an almost unprecedented move, the South Coast Air Quality Management District filed a similar suit the same day. “This would be our third CEQA lawsuit that we’ve ever filed,” AQMD’s Principal Deputy District Counsel Veera Tyagi told Random Lengths News. [See China Shipping, p. 10]
Nick Tonsich Sues RLn
Artist Karena Massengill: But Fails to Stop
Metro takes 550 Line from San Pedro p. 3
[See Tonsich, p. 4]
COVID-19 cases in the US as of Sept. 30, 2020: 7,433,579 • Deaths: 211,406 • Days to Election: 34 For local stats: www.randomlengthsnews.com
October 1 - 14, 2020
Beacon House launches 20 Chefs fundraiser p. 12
For Karena Massengill, do is the operative word. A professional artist who lives next to Sunken City in San Pedro, she is also an accomplished welder-fitter. In the 1970s in Canada, she was employed in a campaign to recruit women into the ranks as working welders. For many that would be enough, but not for Massengill, who also taught for 24 years and works as an activist. Massengill is intoxicating. She speaks in a flurry and in that same way, she described several of her recent works while also expressing her feelings on the state of the world. [See Welding, p. 11]
Clean Air Engineering-Maritime founder Nick Tonsich’s ties to the port have been recurring issues ever since he left his post as president of the Los Angeles Harbor Commission. And ever since, Random Lengths News has covered his dealings. Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg’s latest story on Tonsich, Icarus Falls, was apparently the last straw because Tonsich filed a libel suit against Random Lengths News, on Aug. 11. Then he filed a temporary restraining order, and later he filed a preliminary injunction motion to take down the Icarus Falls story and a 2016 referenced story, also by Rosenberg, from this publication’s website. Judge Michael P. Vicencia in the Long Beach Superior Court denied both motions. Of all the times this newspaper has covered Tonsich and his port dealings, not once did he submit a letter to the editor or make any request for a retraction based on the facts about this newspaper’s coverage. In 2016 he responded with a complaint letter to the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission that we reviewed and do
Remembering Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg p. 7
By Melina Paris, Editorial Assistant
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
Karena Massengill demonstrates welding in her home studio. Photo by Raphael Richardson
Welding Ideas in Constant Motion
the Presses
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