Cold ironing: The debate begins.

BYLINE: BY PETER TIRSCHWELL

Cold ironing as an issue for the shipping industry is heating up. The term refers to the process of shutting down a ship's engine while it's at port and powering the vessel via shore-side electrical power as a way to reduce emissions. Cold ironing has been gaining momentum in California, and many believe at this point that its future at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and perhaps in Oakland as well, is inevitable. But that's as far as it's gone, and it's unclear how much further it will go.

Today there is one container terminal in the world at which cold ironing is being carried out, the China Shipping facility in Los Angeles, a situation that …