1 clean truck program, 2 ports, and now 2 strategies

Nov. 19, 2009 | Molly Peterson | KPCC

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A year after the Clean Trucks program began at the harbor complex, the two ports in San Pedro Harbor are headed in divergent directions. The port of Los Angeles continues to fight challenges to pollution controls in court. In Long Beach, harbor commissioners are trying to end the same lawsuit.

Representatives of the trucking lobby say often that they have no problem with the Clean Trucks program. They say they accept the idea that the oldest, dirtiest trucks must stop working the ports, and that new, less-polluting trucks must replace them. The California Trucking Association's Matt Schrap says companies get it. "The question of clean air isn't so much ‘why?’ anymore, it's ‘how?’," he said.

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Still, the trucking industry is trying, in court and at a federal commission, to block the legal contracts the ports first chose to enforce environmental and other rules. Schrap says truckers may be more certain about the need to clean up the air, but they're less sure now about the economy, their businesses, the state grant programs funding clean trucks, and pretty much everything. "Over the last 2 years the main thing that's been frustrating to a lot of trucking companies has been the uncertainty surrounding these standards," Schrap said.

Schrap prefers that the industry settle its lawsuit with Long Beach and draw up new contracts. He says the problem with the old agreements is that the port would have reviewed not just companies' safety records, but their financial records too.

The settlement would set limits on what harbor officials could do. Schrap says, "Allowing carriers to enter into these registration agreements without any sort of fear of the port's overstepping their authority is helping our carriers sleep better at night."

Schrap says pollution rules would work as well under the settlement's new agreements as under the old ones. David Petit, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, disagrees. For one thing, he says, the new agreements Long Beach is considering require no truck maintenance standards. "You can have a 2007 truck that's just as dirty if you don't take care of it," Petit says. "Suppose we go down the line a couple years, nobody's maintaining trucks because nobody can afford it. What then? Are we going to do this all over again?"

Petit also argued to commissioners at a Port of Long Beach hearing the other night that the state's environmental quality act requires the city to consider the health and livelihood of the port's neighbors, and hold public hearings about the settlement. Port Commissioner Mario Cordero told fellow commissioners he thinks about the people behind the wheel of trucks at the ports. "I cannot lose sight of that. Because that's where I came from," he said. "I came from an immigrant family, and I came from a hardworking labor father. All of us sit around here, especially on this side of the podium, I suggest we've all done better than our parents. These truck drivers remind me of the strife of the immigrant."

Cordero said the Long Beach harbor commission should let the courts decide which agreements can enforce environmental rules. He stood alone – other commissioners approved the settlement and the new agreements. The Natural Resources Defense Council and a coalition of labor and environment groups have appealed that decision to Long Beach city officials. The city council plans to hear that complaint next month.

Bill Martin
3 months, 4 weeks ago

Ok, Molly is a bit more on track with this piece. She presents more than one side of the issue, and I applaud that. Still, I can not agree with the accuracy of the quote by Schrap that states a 2007 truck, poorly maintained, would be just as dirty as an old truck.
The older model engines simply were not designed with pollution control in mind, and the new ones are. Perhaps the paint could become as dirty, but not the engine. It's just not mechanically feasible. Diesels engines are fairly easy to maintain anyway, and the incentive to maintain maximum mileage per gallon would outweigh any maintenance procrastination.

blue mule
3 months, 4 weeks ago

Billy Billy... David Petit is the person who stated "a 2007 truck that's just as dirty if you don't take care of it," Petit is the enviro guy that cannot see how much better the air around the ports will be since Long Beach agreed to move forward with its plan. Petit is still shilling for the labor unions even though the enviro side of the issue is a done deal. Three cheers for the harbor commissioners for cleaning the air without caving to organized labor pressure.

Did you know?
3 months, 4 weeks ago

What? Who's going to maintain these $150,000 dollar trucks? The guy making making 8 bucks an hour or the trucking company. Three Cheers for the POLB Commission for being chickens and caving under pressure from the big trucking industries and other corporate pressures. Thanks ATA for destroying our Clean Trucks Program!

In the know
3 months, 4 weeks ago

"Did you know" that most trucks are not $150,000. The ones that do are natural gas fueled and are inherently cleaner than diesel. Diesel trucks are running closer to $100k which isn't that different from historical prices. Further, the particulate filters in the new trucks don't tend to fail in a way that makes more pollution. They tend to fail in a way that would shut down the truck (zero emissions). In the end, moving to newer trucks is good and we should really be pushing the state for a heavy-duty smog program to make sure trucks are being maintained.

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