New Vision - November 2009 (Justice On The March)

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Big City Mayors Join L.A. Coalition in Growing Movement to Clean up the Nation’s Ports

In spite of industry efforts to block implementation of Los Angeles’ landmark Clean Trucks Program, elected political leaders around the country are joining the effort to clean up the nation’s ports and institute a responsible trucking system along the lines of the one developed in L.A.

In October, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced their support for the federal legislative effort to implement Los Angeles’ Clean Trucks Program. They are joined in their support by an impressive list of city leaders, including Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Broward County, Florida Mayor Stacy Ritter, officials of the Port of Oakland, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, and New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District became the first air regulatory agency in the country to publicly urge Congress to amend federal law on October 27 so ports will not be challenged in court when they enact programs to cut air emissions from port trucks.

The L.A. initiative—spearheaded by the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports of which LAANE is a leading member—improves the quality of the air in the neighborhoods surrounding the port by requiring trucking companies to adhere to strict environmental standards.

By shifting the responsibility for purchase and maintenance of the trucks from underpaid drivers to the trucking companies themselves, the policy ensures long-term environmental sustainability and also protects underpaid workers behind the wheel from exploitive working conditions that have taken root since deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Oakland’s port commissioners are proceeding with their own ordinance to ban old, polluting trucks from the Port of Oakland. A final vote on an Oakland Clean Trucks Program is expected at an upcoming port commission meeting.

Los Angeles port officials are also standing strong. They recently reaffirmed their commitment to promoting clean air and good port jobs when they approved additional funding for a D.C. lobbying firm that has been advocating for the rights of cities to set standards for port operations.

The current, outdated port trucking system has led to dirty air and dead-end jobs that have helped to spike public health costs and to bring poverty rates among drivers to crisis proportions in Southern California as well as on the East Coast. So-called “independent” port truck drivers earn, on average, $10 an hour and cannot afford to properly maintain their old, dirty trucks.

The L.A. Clean Trucks Program fixes these linked problems by transferring the responsibility for reducing air pollution from low-wage workers disguised as “independent contractors” to trucking companies that employ their drivers legitimately and invest in and maintain clean, green trucks.

However, the American Trucking Association sought and won an injunction to block key provisions of the diesel emissions program, tying the hands of other ports from taking aggressive steps. Port officials, mayors, environmentalists, labor, community and faith-based groups around the country have called on Congress to update the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) so port officials have the clear authority to solve 21st century challenges.

“Diesel pollution was a barely understood threat when deregulation absolved the trucking companies of their responsibility to own trucks, maintain them, and directly employ drivers. Now America’s ports are plagued with the environmental consequences of those fundamental market failures,” said Patricia Castellanos, director of LAANE’s Clean and Safe Ports project.

Bucking the trend set by L.A. and other big cities, the Port of Long Beach caved into industry demands when it agreed to settle its lawsuit with the American Trucking Association. Trucking companies which once had to meet stringent and enforceable concession requirements under a 2008 policy can now merely sign a piece of paper indicating that they haul cargo in EPA-compliant trucks. Trucking firms are forcing already low-paid contract drivers to foot the bill for the new trucks and maintenance through exploitive schemes that “have trimmed driver incomes to new lows,” according to the Long Beach Press Telegram.

“Rather than clean up the trucks that serve its port, Long Beach ran away from a fight with the ATA – an organization that has opposed clean air regulation locally and nationally – and is content to sit on the sidelines while the Port of Los Angeles pays to clean up the trucks that serve both ports,” said David Pettit, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

To learn more about the Clean & Safe Ports project, please visit http://www.laane.org/projects/current-projects/clean-a-safe-ports