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CLEAN TRUCK PROGRAM * USA - L.A. port's clean-truck running on empty
Funding for a $20,000 incentive for buyers of clean-fuel trucks has dried up. Some trucking firms have spent millions of dollars on greener fleets, expecting the cash
Los Angeles,CAL,USA - The Los Angeles Times, by Ronald D. White -January 27, 2009: -- It sounded like a good deal: The Port of Los Angeles offered to pay $20,000 incentives as part of its Clean Trucks Program, launched Oct. 1 in conjunction with the neighboring Long Beach port to reduce pollution from trucking fleets serving the harbor... That sent Vic La Rosa into overdrive... The owner of Total Transportation Services Inc. ordered 111 trucks, some powered by cleaner-burning diesel and some by liquefied natural gas, each eligible for the $20,000 because they meet 2007 emissions standards... Then came the roadblocks... Port officials were expecting only modest interest in the incentive program -- maybe 1,000 rigs -- because eligibility hinged on far surpassing the requirements of the Clean Trucks Program, which initially bans all trucks built before 1989. Instead, more than 100 large and small trucking companies turned out, with as many as 7,500 trucks requiring grant money over the course of the next year... On top of that, state officials nixed funding assistance and a federal agency blocked the collection of fees to support the program, forcing the L.A. port to dip into its strained budget for $44 million to cover the first 2,200 trucks... That's leaving Total Transportation Services of Rancho Dominguez and other motor carriers short of a full load... Some carriers are worried they could go under if they don't get all of the help they had anticipated... (Photo by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times - Vic La Rosa, owner of Total Transportation Services, ordered 111 cleaner-fuel trucks, each eligible for a $20,000 incentive through the Port of Los Angeles. The program was more popular than expected)Labels: Clean Trucks Program
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