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CLEAN AIR * USA - Port of Los Angeles plan weighs on shippers
The Harbor Commission will require trucking companies to shoulder costs of the clean air program, a move rejected by Long Beach
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Times, by Louis Sahagun -March 21, 2008: -- The Los Angeles Harbor Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a clean air plan requiring shipping companies to buy and maintain a modernized fleet of big rigs and employ thousands of independent truckers who currently operate under contract... A spokesman for the American Trucking Assn. derided the plan as a "scheme to unionize port drivers" and vowed that his group would sue the port. Spokesman Curtis Whalen said the plan violates court rulings allowing the trucking industry unrestricted access to markets nationwide... Nonetheless, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told about 300 truckers at Banning's Landing Community Center in Wilmington, "Today, Los Angeles has said enough is enough," he added. "When 1,200 lives are cut short every year by a barrage of diseases, ranging from emphysema to cancer of the mouth, we have a moral obligation to act fast."... Whalen, called the plan illegal... Whalen said the association was working toward an agreement with the Port of Long Beach and that city's mayor, Bob Foster, whom he called "a reasonable guy, unlike that other one."... He was referring to Villaraigosa, who has long argued that port truckers deserve better wages and benefits... "There may be lawsuits that will delay our effort, but we will not be deterred," Villaraigosa said in an interview. "We think we have a strong legal case, and we are moving ahead with the most ambitious plan to clean up a major port in the United States and perhaps the world."... (Photo from Written Inc., by Carmi)Labels: clean air plans debate
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