Economics and the environment in port planning: A case study of decision-making in Southern California ports

Reducing the conflict between port development and coastal zone protection has become a central objective of port policy. Port planning efforts have recently focused upon various policy measures designed to achieve this objective. Yet available evidence strongly suggests that the organization, goals, and analytic methods of port authorities lead to decisions that are economically and environmentally inefficient. This is especially true when port development involves impacts external to the construction and operation of the projects. Although this issue has received occasional mention, the effects of port organization and project evaluation methods on economic and environmental outcomes remain largely unresearched.;The research presented here is intended to address this situation. Existing data on the organizational structure and the methods of analysis employed by three Southern California ports is reviewed. Data on the economic and environmental impacts of port projects was gathered and used to evaluate the effectiveness of present decision making methods. The resulting estimate of the decisions that would have changed (approved projects denied or denied projects approved) as a result of using broader evaluation methods is used to explore the likely consequences for air and water pollution, economic development in port cities, and land use in coastal areas.