The flood of sunshine in San Pedro on Friday morning, April 21, was apt, as as former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a crowd of more than 100 people celebrated a completed solar rooftop project at AltaSea, the marine science lab at the Port of Los Angeles.
The 180,000-foot panels cover four acres of rooftop on the old port warehouses that now are now home to the ambitious, 35-acre research hub, the largest such center in the nation dedicated to creating and powering ocean-based jobs in the emerging blue economy.
Schwarzenegger, who climbed the scaffolding steps and did the honors to turn on the rooftop solar project that will power the AltaSea campus and 700 local homes, marveled at the campus’s progress.
“I was blown away when I looked around to see what AltaSea is doing,” he told the crowd, “all the technology that’s being done, all the creativity that’s being done.”
The event also celebrated the personal history between California’s 38th governor, who served from 2003 to 11, and AltaSea President and CEO Terry Tamminen, who was tapped to head up the state’s Environmental Protection Agency during Schwarzenegger’s administration. Tamminen was also a former aide and policy advisor to Schwarzenegger.
Tamminen took the reins of AltaSea in January 2022, replacing current Los Angeles Councilmember Tim McOsker, who left when he was elected to represent the city’s 15th District.
Growing up, McOsker said during the event, his generation looked to space as a new scientific frontier was being dreamed about and explored.
With AltaSea, he said, the ocean is now capturing dreamers who are looking to create a greener, cleaner planet by harnessing the answers it may hold.
“Who knows,” McOsker said, “what is going to come from something like AltaSea.”
Friday, meanwhile, was Schwarzenegger’s first in-person visit to AltaSea. He took part virtually in a USC ribbon-cutting ceremony at AltaSea in 2022.
Schwarzenegger and Tamminen were the…
Read the full article here
