Ports Declare Green Victory With Clean Trucks Program
Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 | Updated 2:58 PM PST
A year after the Clean Trucks Program was launched at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the ports have gotten rid of more than 2,000 diesel polluting trucks and increased the number of "clean" trucks at the ports to 5,500.
As a result, the program has reduced air pollution by the amount produced by 200,000 cars a year, according to the National Resources Defense Council.
The program is on track to meet its goal of reducing truck-produced emissions by 80 percent in 2010 -- two years ahead of schedule.
"Before the program, diesel trucks that serviced the ports were some of the oldest and most polluting trucks on the road and were the largest source of on-shore diesel particulate matter in California," said Melissa Lin Perrella, a lawyer for NRDC. "Now, thousands of those trucks are running cleaner and producing far less diesel pollution responsible for claiming hundreds of lives."
Diesel particulate matter is linked to heart attacks, asthma, chronic bronchitis, increased cancer risk, other serious health ailments and premature death. Children and the elderly are particularly susceptible.
"Thousands of children will not contract asthma or chronic respiratory disease in Los Angeles thanks to the Clean Truck Program," said David Pettit, also a lawyer for NRDC.
The program invested $1.6 billion to replace an aging fleet of 17,000 trucks with newer, cleaner trucks. In February, the ports began collecting a $35 fee for each 20-foot container delivered to the ports, to create a fund that would subsidize up to 80 percent of the cost of each new truck.
Federal Judge Christina Snyder in April denied the American Trucking Association's request for an injunction to block the program. She upheld the requirement that trucks meet stringent emissions limits, and also protected the funding mechanism set up by the ports to replace their old truck fleet.
However, the judge suspended a plan by the Port of Los Angeles to require the phasing-in of employee drivers rather than independent owner- operators, pending a trial in February 2010.
The Clean Trucks Program is part of a larger Clean Air Action Plan aimed not only at improving the environment but also expanding the ports' business.
