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"GREEN" NEWS * USA - Long Beach agrees to ban old diesel trucks from port
The mayors of the cities agree to replace the fleet of 16,500 rigs with cleaner models by 2012, but implementation is still unclearLos Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Times, by Louis Sahagun -November 6, 2007: -- ... Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster on Monday touted a joint plan to scrap old diesel rigs and replace them with newer, cleaner models as part of an effort to slash port-related pollution linked to 2,400 premature deaths a year... Against a backdrop of massive cranes unloading a freighter as it spewed dark columns of diesel smoke, the often rival leaders embraced during a news conference held after the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners agreed to a progressive truck ban identical to one approved last week by the adjacent Port of Los Angeles... Now the big question is who will pay to own, operate and maintain the new trucks, worth an estimated $1.6 billion... Many of the fleet's mostly low-income, Spanish-speaking independent contract truckers insist they cannot afford to buy new trucks, let alone maintain them. They want trucking companies and shippers to buy the trucks and hire the truckers... Trucking companies and shippers argue that the ports lack the legal authority to force them to purchase the fleet. Employing drivers also would attract union organizers, something most port businesses would oppose... Pressure to reduce port pollution has been motivated in part by booming trade. Annual trade at the ports, currently about $305 billion, is expected to double by 2020, port authorities said... Long Beach Harbor Commissioner James Hankla believes a compromise is inevitable... "How are we going to pay for all this?" he said. "I don't know. But I believe we will find a way, not that it's going to be free or cheap, because if we are not able to grow green, we will not see a million new jobs created for this region"... (Photo from FORBES: America's Most Polluted Cities: Los Angeles)
Labels: green trucks
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