Public block cement warehouse project in San Diego

Mitsubishi Cements plans for a cement warehouse at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal at the Port of San Diego, USA, look to have been blocked by public objections on the potential pollution caused by trucking cement.

A Nevada-based company trying to build a cement warehouse halted talks with the Port of San Diego this week on the project. Mitsubishi Cement Corp wanted to ship 600,000t of cement-making materials to the port-owned terminal and store the shipments in a warehouse before trucking the material around southern California construction sites. The project would have increased diesel truck traffic through San Diego’s portside communities. The project would require between 4,000-10,000 diesel powered trucks to drive through Barrio Logan and National City as the material is delivered to southern California customers, reported Kpbs.

Local residents lobbied against the plan when the port first rejected the proposal in 2020 and again when the project resurfaced last year. Mitsubishi had been asked to reshape the plan, which was rejected in 2020. However, the new proposal failed to offer significant emission-free alternatives to the high number of diesel truck traffic the project would create. More than 800 people delivered letters or emails to the port asking the agency to reject the proposal.

The project did not face a vote in front of the Board of Port Commissioners, but the public agency acknowledged discussions about moving forward have ended. Cement is currently trucked into southern California from the high desert or the Port of Long Beach.