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'Clean Trucks' Program * USA - Local Ports Try to Sign Up Truckers for
CA,USA -89.3 KPCC Radio, by Molly Peterson -August 22, 2008: -- In six weeks, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will stop letting older diesel trucks pick up cargo. That ban is part of the Clean Trucks program. Environmental activists and truck drivers are protesting some of that program's employment rules today during a Clean Truck Center dedication on Terminal Island. The trucking industry is suing over other provisions. That means the port complex is working hard to get trucking companies to participate.
KPCC's Molly Peterson has the story... (Listen )
Peterson: Those tweaks are paying off with bigger motor carriers. Two national trucking companies, Swift and Knight, just announced they'll sign on to L.A.'s plan after the port added incentives for already-clean fleets. But some independent drivers say they're still hanging back.
Rigo Hernandez: Signing up means buying a new truck. Being responsible for a new truck. I bring home like 500, 600 dollars a week, you know?
Peterson: Rigo Hernandez of Torrance has a wife and two kids, with a third on the way. The company he drives for contracts 50 independents like him. Hernandez says he can't afford to sign up at either port. And, he doesn't like the Clean Trucks Center.
Hernandez: From the first person to, you know, to welcome you, to the last one you talk, all they want to do is see how can you get a new truck.
Peterson: At last report, Long Beach has registered nearly 1,000 trucks for its program. After the two major companies signed on, L.A. says 3,000 trucks will qualify there. At least 17,000 trucks move in and out of the port complex right now, so both ports have a lot of work ahead before the October 1st Clean Trucks deadline.
Labels: "Clean Trucks" Program
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