With a new CEO and several developments rolling out early this year, AltaSea, the marine science research campus at the Port of Los Angeles, is gearing up for a new round of growth as it continues evolving.
Terry Tamminen, 69, the state’s former Environmental Protection Agency secretary and a former aide and policy advisor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, came on board as the project’s new chief executive officer last month.
He replaced Tim McOsker, who stepped down from the post to focus on his campaign for the 15th District Los Angeles City Council seat.
McOsker will continue serving as a volunteer senior advisor.
“I got to know the folks at AltaSea and I’ve been a fan of what they’re trying to do here,” said Tamminen, who comes to the nonprofit with a long list of accomplishments and prominence in environmental circles.
AltaSea, originally the vision of former Port of LA Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, rolled out in 2013 with plans for a $500 million marine research center. At the time, the campus was expected to take 15 to 20 years to complete.
Plans called for the 35-acre San Pedro campus, 2451 Signal St., to feature seawater laboratories, offices, a lecture hall and an interpretive center.
Fundraising proved challenging, but none of that was surprising for a vision that was so expansive, Tamminen said.
“Everyone understands big ideas like this take time,” Tamminen said in a recent interview.
A $25 million gift from the Annenberg Foundation served to jump-start the development to transform a string of port warehouses at the outer harbor.
Upcoming projects include:
- Renovating 180,000 square feet of warehouse space that will include new roofs and solar panels, set to begin shortly.
- Introducing carbon capturing technology, which the Institute for Carbon Management in UCLA’s Samueli Scholastic’s School of Engineering will bring to AltaSea.
- Implementing a project by Eco Wave Power, an onshore wave energy technology company that developed technology for turning waves into green electricity, with which AltaSea has signed a cooperation agreement.
Eco Wave plans to start a pilot program on the AltaSea campus and then will look for other locations.
So far, the technology, developed in Israel, hasn’t worked commercially, said Tamminen, who was born in Wisconsin but spent much of his youth in Australia.
“Either it was too expensive to build and deploy,” he said, “or was just not durable enough” for the harsh ocean environment.
But with the local breakwater and a cement jetty at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, Tamminen said, supporters hope to develop a successful demonstration project that will take the technology to the next step.
Eco Wave will participate in AltaSea’s outreach activities, including the AltaSea Renewable Energy Open House on Feb. 26 and the upcoming AltaSea Blue+Green webinar series, which does not yet have a launch date.
A kelp laboratory created by faculty and students at USC, meanwhile, has already been operating in one of the warehouse facilities, with a more formal ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for 1:30 p.m. March 7.
The vision at AltaSea, Tamminen said, provides an opportunity to do great things.
“Ever since my first diving lesson in my youth, just a few miles from AltaSea, I’ve had a deep passion and interest in the ocean,” Tamminen said. “AltaSea is uniquely positioned to become the world’s leading destination for the blue economy.”
Tannimen — a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed ship captain, and airplane and helicopter pilot who speaks German, Dutch and Spanish — conducted studies on conch depletion in the Bahamas, manatee populations in Florida coastal waters and mariculture in the Gulf States with Texas A&M University.
In 2016, he became CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, where he oversaw operations, the implementation of a new comprehensive climate change action plan, and numerous global environmental and climate change initiatives.
His recent appointment to lead the San Pedro research facility was hailed by those who have been involved in building AltaSea from the ground up.
“We’re privileged that someone of Terry’s caliber and depth of respect in the environmental movement has agreed to be our next CEO and lead us into 2022, a year of action for AltaSea,” said Board of Directors Chairman Doane Liu. “Terry helped transform California into a global leader on climate change.”
Tamminen founded the Santa Monica BayKeeper in 1993.
He was appointed secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in 2003 and later appointed cabinet secretary and chief policy advisor to Schwarzenegger, becoming an architect of sustainability policies, including the state’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, the Hydrogen Highway Network and the Million Solar Roofs Initiative.
“We’re an ocean planet, two-thirds of the planet is ocean and we’re harming it,” Tamminen said of the work AltaSea is dedicated to pursuing. “But it’s an amazingly resilient ecosystem.”