Seal Beach Gets Daily Eyeful Of Supply Chain Crisis, Rep. Steel Attempts To Help Solve It

SEAL BEACH, CA —While over 150 ships idle off the coast of California, Seal Beach's Rep. Michelle Steel, R-CA 48, is reaching across the aisle to help solve the port crisis thought to be at least partially responsible for Orange County's oil spill in October.

The ships, heavy laden with cargo containers, have created blocky eyesores and pollution problems for coastal Orange County towns, such as Seal Beach.

Residents, such as James Chisum, are concerned not just for the blighted daily sunset view but the damage the ships are doing to the environment.

"The beach is our family's happy place," he tells Patch over Twitter. "We were at Crystal Cove the day the news of the oil spill broke. Despite all the assurances, still worried about having my kids splashing around in the water."

In an effort to bring an end to the cargo ship parking lot at sea, Steel joined with Rep. Josh Harder to create the Supply Chain Taskforce Act.

The bill would "immediately work on addressing" the port crisis, according to Steel and Harder. The onus of the task force would fall upon the commandant of the Coast Guard, who would serve as the Chair.

Harder says that the cargo ship crisis has created rising prices at groceries and stores as well as farms. The task force, created by the act, would have 90 days to develop a plan to solve the port crisis.

"Democrats and Republicans agree that we need to get prices under control and let our folks get back to shipping their products around the globe," Harder said. "This bill puts politics aside so we can actually address this crisis."

"We have a crisis at our ports," Steel said. "American families want us to ease this backlog and get these ships moving and out of our waters. Without leadership, we will have another crisis on our hands, and it's time for action."

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are responsible for 40 percent of the country's imported items, most of them are still hanging out off the coast of Seal Beach, waiting for their turn to offload.