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Jul 22, 2014

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA: Rebates

* Arkansas - To give clean fuel rebates to fleets

(Photo: A Waste Pro USA’s first-ever compressed natural gas -CNG- solid waste collection truck) 
  Little Rock,ARK,USA -Automotive Fleet -July 21, 2014: -- The Arkansas Energy Office will hand out $150,000 in state rebates to fleet operators who convert vehicles to run on compressed natural gas, according to an announcement... Fleet operators who convert to CNG or progane autogas or purchase a CNG or propane autogas vehicle are eligible for the Clean Fuel Vehicle Rebate Program, which is part of the Gaseous Fuels Rebate Program... The rebate amount is dependent on the cost of the conversion or incremental cost of a clean fuel vehicle and allows for a rebate equivalent to the lesser of 50 percent of the conversion or incremental cost or $4,500 per vehicle... Vehicles must be from the 2012 model year or later, and purchases made prior to Aug. 15, 2013 are not eligible...

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Sep 28, 2010

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Harbor commissioners approve new Program regulations

The new regulations now allowed under the Clean Truck Program, including a ban on independent drivers entering the Port of Los Angeles by the end of 2013

Port of Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Daily Breeze, by Art Marroquin -27 Sept 2010: -- After gaining clearance from a federal judge, the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday approved new regulations now allowed under the Clean Truck Program, including a ban on independent drivers entering the Port of Los Angeles by the end of 2013... Trucking companies doing business at the nation's busiest port will have more than three years to hire all their drivers as employees under the phased-in plan... Under the stepped plan, 20 percent of shipments hauled by trucking companies must be completed by employee drivers by the end of 2011. After that, 66 percent of the shipments must be completed by employees by the end of 2012, with full compliance by the end of 2013... Motor carriers also will have until Jan. 1, 2011, to submit off-street parking plans and will be given an additional six months to implement the plan... Other aspects of the program go into effect Friday, including a requirement to show financial ability to do business at the port, along with keeping all records available for future audits by harbor department officials... (Photo from sarahpalintruthsquad: Idling trucks at the Port of Los Angeles)

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Sep 23, 2010

Clean Truck * USA - Port of LA to Vote on Implementation

Staff recommendations include timeline for phasing in employee drivers

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Sep 22, 2010: -- The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on Sept. 27 will vote on staff recommendations for implementing the concession requirements in the port's clean-truck plan, including motor carrier phase-in of employee drivers, an off-street parking requirement and demonstrating proof of financial capability... The concession requirements are now permissible since U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder on Sept. 16 entered her ruling in the clean-truck case lifting the injunction against implementation of the concession agreement between the port and motor carriers... The most controversial concession item, which is certain to generate great interest in the harbor trucking industry, is the timeline under which licensed motor carriers must begin to phase in the use of employee drivers and consequently phase out the use of owner-operators... By Dec. 31, 2011, 20 percent of all gate moves by a licensed motor carrier must be performed by trucks driven by employee drivers. The number increases to 66 percent by Dec. 31, 2010 and 100 percent by Dec. 31, 2013... (Photo from joc: Port of Los Angeles, on board view)


* LA-Long Beach Update Clean Air Plan. Ports set stricter goals for reducing toxic air contaminants

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Sep 22, 2010: -- The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach released an updated Clean Air Action Plan that sets even stricter goals for reducing toxic air contaminants than were contained in the original CAAP of 2006. The updated plan contains guidelines for pollution reduction from port operations through 2025... Under the original CAAP in 2006, the neighboring ports set a goal of reducing total air pollution 45 percent by next year. The ports report significant progress toward achieving that goal. Emission reductions are being achieved in all areas of port operations including vessels, harbor craft, marine terminal equipment, trucks and trains... The CAAP process calls for regular reviews and updates. This first update released Wednesday includes new, stricter emissions goals. By 2014, the ports intend to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions 22 percent, sulfur oxide emissions 93 percent and diesel particulate matter 72 percent... By 2023, NOx emissions should be reduced 59 percent, SOx emissions 93 percent and DPM 77 percent... Also, the ports set a goal by 2020 of lowering the residential cancer risk due to diesel particulate pollution 85 percent in the port region and communities adjacent to the ports... The Southern California ports are implementing the CAAP through a mix of incentives and requirements contained in the terminal leases. The ports offer various financial incentives to shipping lines and terminal operators, such as reductions in port charges for slow-steaming into port...

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Sep 19, 2010

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Port weighs timeline for truck program

Trucking companies hauling goods in and out of the Port of Los Angeles will have until the end of 2013 to hire all their drivers as employees ...

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Daily Breeze, by Art Marroquin -18 Sept 2010: ... under a phased-in plan unveiled late last week... The proposal was released Friday, just days after U.S. District Judge, Christina Snyder, formally lifted a preliminary injunction, a decision that allows the Port of Los Angeles to implement all aspects of its Clean Trucks Program, including a controversial aspect that calls for banning independent owner- operator truckers from entering port terminals... Under the stepped plan, freight haulers will be required to classify 20 percent of their truckers as employees by the end of 2011. After that, 66 percent of truckers must be employees by the end of 2012, with full compliance by the end of 2013... The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on Sept. 27 will consider the proposed timeline, which gives trucking companies more than three years to fully comply with the port's new rule... The ATA claimed that the port was trying to impose labor controls on the trucking industry, which was deregulated in 1980... In a ruling issued last month, Snyder said the port was allowed to act as a proprietary agency and could manage its property like a landlord... ATA officials have said they intend to appeal Snyder's decision... (Photo from Port of Los Angeles.org: Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, located approximately five miles -eight kilometers- from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach)

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Jul 14, 2010

Clean Truck Program * USA - Seattle port readies for January enforcement

Seattle,WASH,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -July 12, 2010: ... On Jan. 1, 2011, Seattle will require trucks entering the city’s port to be compliant with 1994 model year engine emissions standards. Also by that time, all trucks serving the ports’ container terminals must be registered with the port’s drayage truck registry... By 2015, 80 percent of trucks making port calls must meet 2007 model year engine standards, and that figure rises to 100 percent by 2017... According to a 2008 report, at least 75 percent of trucks making port calls at the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver had 1994 or newer model year engines. Styrk said port leaders have found that long-haul truckers drive newer trucks than local drayage operators... The port has a Support Truck Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound Program, also known as ScRAPS, in which truck owners can turn in their pre-1994 model year engine trucks for either $5,000 or the blue book value, “whichever is higher,” the port website says... The port also offers free overnight truck parking for up to 120 drayage trucks at Terminal 25-South... (Photo from qbx.net: Port of Seattle)

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Apr 28, 2010

CLEAN TRUCKS PROGRAMS * USA - 78 Lawmakers Back Granting Ports More Power

Members ask Oberstar to include changes in transportation bill

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by R.G. Edmonson -Apr 28, 2010: -- House members advocating a change in federal law that would give ports the authority to regulate local trucking are turning up the heat in advance of a May 5 hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee... The committee leadership on Wednesday received a letter from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and signed by 78 House members urging Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., to include changes in federal preemption law in a new comprehensive surface transportation authorization bill... A trial is under way in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles of a suit filed by the American Trucking Associations challenging the constitutionality of a portion of the port of Los Angeles clean truck program that would ban independent owner-operators from drayage services in favor of companies that sign concession agreements and hire drivers who are employees... According to the BlueGreen Alliance, Nadler intends to file legislation to change the law in the coming weeks... (Photo from JOC)


* Carriers Warn Against Anti-Truck Policies. LTL executives say shippers, carriers need to educate Washington on freight

Orlando,FL.,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 27, 2010: -- Trucking executives say they’re watching for signs of additional modal shift from truck to rail or inland waterways, three leading carrier executives said yesterday... Michael J. Smid, president of YRC, was one of three carrier officials who spoke with shippers at the annual NASSTRAC conference in, April 25. The trucking executives pointed to delay in passing a multi-year surface transportation bill and the Obama administration’s focus high-speed rail and inland waterways “to get trucks off the road”... Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has stressed the importance of “getting more trucks off the roads” to reduce congestion and pollution. The trucking industry makes an easy target, “because there are so many trucks on the road,” said Bill Logue, president of FedEx Freight. “It’s a visible thing”... Truckers and shippers need to do a better job teaching federal officials and congressional staff about trucking’s important role in the economy, Logue and Smid said...

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Apr 20, 2010

Clean Truck Program * USA - Port of San Diego working on

San Diego,CAL,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -April 19, 2010: -- The Port of San Diego is working on its own Clean Truck Program to cut emissions and add enforcement teeth to the two-cargo terminal port... The proposal looks to be less restrictive than a similar plan adopted at the Port of Los Angeles, but tough enough to allow trucks to be turned around at the gate for not meeting emissions standards... Under San Diego’s early conceptual plan, trucks would be required to have an RFID chip to be used for checking compliance with the port drayage truck rule. The memo made it appear that the port is aware of its high number of visits from long-haul trucks, and may include a day-pass system for out-of-state truckers who make occasional port visits... (Photo from bioage.typepad: Truck at Port of San Diego)

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Apr 19, 2010

CLEAN TRUCKS PROGRAM * USA - Clean trucks head to court

At the heart of the case is whether the Port of Los Angeles should be allowed to establish its own rules for trucks operating on their property, including the employee mandate

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Daily Breeze, by Art Marroquin -17 April 2010: ... But the Wangs believe their dream may vanish if a federal judge allows the Port of Los Angeles to move ahead with a provision of its disputed Clean Trucks Program that requires trucking companies to drop independent owner-operator drivers and hire employee drivers... That's just one of the many arguments that will be presented Tuesday morning, when the Port of Los Angeles' version of the Clean Trucks Program heads to trial... The American Trucking Associations filed a federal lawsuit shortly after the program was launched on Oct. 1, 2008, requiring all big rigs entering the port to meet 2007 federal emissions standards by 2012 with a goal of reducing diesel truck emissions by 85 percent... While the ATA supports the clean air goals, the agency opposes a provision that would require freight haulers serving the port to hire employee drivers rather than independent owner-operators by 2013... Supporters of the program say trucking companies should be forced to purchase the expensive clean trucks for their employee drivers, then pass the costs on to shippers... Opponents say the employee mandate would lead to increased consumer costs while allowing the Teamsters union to rapidly expand by organizing drivers who serve the nation's busiest port... For now, the program's employee mandate is blocked by a preliminary injunction sought by the ATA... (Photo by Robert Casillas - Joseph Wang, left, and his father, Robert, who started a trucking company in 1986, are hoping the courts will stop the Port of Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program, which will require that truckers be employees of firms to be allowed access to the facility starting in 2013. The Wangs say such a rule would put them out of business. The American Trucking Association and Port of L.A. officials will state their cases in court beginning Tuesday)

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Apr 16, 2010

CLEAN PORTS * USA - The Most Effective Clean-Air Programs in the Nation

New Report on Port Trucking Details Imminent Threats to One of

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -PRNewswire -April 15, 2010: -- Environmentalists, Residents, and Port Workers Hail "From Clean to Clunker: The Economics of Emissions Control" by the Sierra Club, BlueGreen Alliance, LAANE, and the Teamsters... The new data reveals the cost of truck maintenance, coupled with the financial inability of individual drivers to meet this challenge, pose a profound environmental threat to clean-air gains initially achieved by the LA Clean Truck Program... The findings come a year after a deep-pocketed special interest, the American Trucking Associations (ATA), stalled full implementation of the green-growth program. The data also underscores the environmental risk for other U.S. ports being pressured by the Virginia-based industry group to put onerous and unreasonable costs onto the backs of individual drivers who earn $10-11/hr, rather than capitalized trucking companies that receive large public subsidies and incentives to acquire their fleets... Other findings include:

* The average cost of maintaining a clean truck in its first 12 months of service is $2,200 and rapidly accelerates over time.

* Adding typical wear-and-tear repairs to routine maintenance pushes out-of-pocket costs to port drivers in excess of $8,500 annually. Over the course of a standard 7-year lease the total cost can skyrocket to nearly $60,000.

* These expenditures are over 70 percent higher than what drivers typically paid to maintain the old dirty diesel trucks they drove prior to the implementation of the Clean Truck Program.

One long-time port truck driver cited in the report explains his inability to pay for maintenance... (Photo from cache1.asset-cache: Trucks are driven near the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the busiest port complex in the US, on September near Long Beach, California)


* USA - ATA Calls Teamsters Report An Attack on Owner-Operators

Arlington,VA,USA -Trucking Info, by Deborah Lockridge & Diana Britton -16 April 2010: -- A new report backed by the Teamsters Union and several environmental interest groups claims the cost of truck maintenance and the financial inability of drivers to maintain their vehicles poses a threat to the clean air goals of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program... "That salvo is not a research report, as the Teamsters claim, but just a collection of rhetoric that they have used before to attack owner-operator independent contractors," said Clayton Boyce, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, in reaction to the report. "They falsely allege that owner-operators are not equipped intellectually or financially to properly maintain and service clean diesel engines. That's a huge insult to thousands of owner-operators"...

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Mar 10, 2010

CLEAN PORT PROGRAMS * USA

* California - Agency to Enforce Clean Air Goals

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Mar 8, 2010: -- Rules would toughen efforts, provide a backstop at Los Angeles, Long Beach ports. Southern California air quality regulators are proposing “backstop” rules to ensure the ports achieve the diesel emission goals established in their joint Clean Air Action Plan... The ports’ clean-truck programs that are part of the overall Clean Air Action Plan took effect in October 2008 and are already close to the goal of reducing diesel emissions from trucks by 80 percent. More than 6,000 trucks that meet federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for 2007-model heavy-duty vehicles are now in service... (Image from infrastructurist: Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach)


* Washington - Seattle Program Scraps 100th 'Dirty' Truck

Seattle,WASH,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Thomas L. Gallagher -Mar 8, 2010: -- Port of Seattle, partners help replace older models to reduce pollution. The Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS) program, which the Port of Seattle and its partners launched four months ago, scrapped its 100th truck last week... The program started last November with the goal of taking pre-1994 drayage trucks off the road. Scrapping the 100th truck in just four months exceeds expectations. The success is partly due to incentives for truck owners. Through the program, truckers receive $5,000 or the blue book value of their truck, whichever is greater, in return for scrapping their old truck... ScRAPS grew out of the partnership between the Port of Seattle, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, a regional agency chartered by the state, and Cascade Sierra Solutions, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving fuel and reducing emissions from heavy-duty diesel engines. The three organizations are working toward the goals of the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, which aims to lower industrial port emissions... (Picture from wikimedia.org/wikipedia: Port of Seattle)


* New York / New Jersey - Port to Cut Emissions. Program to phase out older, dirtier trucks at port terminals

New York,NY.USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -Mar 9, 2010: -- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans this week to release details of a clean-air program expected to phase out older, dirtier trucks at port terminals... The plan will not ban owner-operator container haulers as part of the effort, however, in contrast to efforts at the Port of Los Angeles... In addition to encouraging the replacement of older trucks, the program will include other measures to reduce port-related emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and particulate matter... Under the financial incentive program, truck drivers are eligible for a 25 percent grant toward the total purchase price of a replacement truck and low-interest financing for up to 75 percent of the total purchase price of a replacement truck...(Picture from gordonterminal: Air view NY/NJ ports)

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Jan 19, 2010

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Hybrid truck maker to ink deal with Port of L.A.

Sunset Park,CAL,USA -Santa Monica Daily Press, by Kevin Herrera -January 16, 2010: -- Forced to dramatically reduce emissions, the Port of Los Angeles plans to purchase hydrogen fuel cell, hybrid-electric trucks from a Santa Monica-based firm... The heavy-duty-big-rigs from Vision Industries, which moved to Sunset Park earlier this month, will be tested to evaluate their durability and suitability for short and medium distance cargo-hauling, said Chris Cannon, director of the port's Clean Truck Program, which began in October 2008 and has removed thousands of polluting trucks from the port and delivered at least an 80 percent reduction in air emissions... (Photo from visionmotorcorp: Freightliner's Vision Tyrano truck model)

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posted by Unknown @ 12:38 PM  0 comments

Dec 4, 2009

Clean Truck Program * USA - To Meet Emission Goals Two Years Early

A Port of Long Beach program to cut port-servicing diesel truck emissions by 80 percent is set to meet its original goal two years ahead of schedule

Long Beach,CAL,USA -Pacific Maritime On Line -December 3, 2009: ... Port Executive Director, Richard Steinke, told the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday that a second ban on certain model year trucks– set to take effect Jan. 1, 2010– will remove an additional 8,000 older trucks from the port drayage service and push the port truck program over the 80 percent emission reduction goal... The impending Jan. 1, 2010 ban will bar all pre-1994 trucks from port service as well as all 1994-2003 models that have not been retrofit with pollution control devices... The port news release also stated that by Jan. 1, 2010, 90 percent of the trucks providing drayage service to the port would be 2007 model year trucks or newer... Port officials have also indicated that given the apparent success of meeting the truck program goals two years ahead of schedule, new and even more stringent targets for emissions reductions are under consideration and could be amended to the port's clean air plans in the near future...

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Nov 21, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - 1 clean truck program, 2 ports, and now 2 strategies

The port of Los Angeles continues to fight challenges to pollution controls in court. In Long Beach, harbor commissioners are trying to end the same lawsuit

Pasadena,CAL,USA -KPCC (Southern California Public Radio), by Molly Peterson -Nov. 19, 2009: -- A year after the Clean Trucks program began at the harbor complex, the two ports in San Pedro Harbor are headed in divergent directions. The port of Los Angeles continues to fight challenges to pollution controls in court. In Long Beach, harbor commissioners are trying to end the same lawsuit... Representatives of the trucking lobby say often that they have no problem with the Clean Trucks program. They say they accept the idea that the oldest, dirtiest trucks must stop working the ports, and that new, less-polluting trucks must replace them. The California Trucking Association's, Matt Schrap, says companies get it. "The question of clean air isn't so much ‘why?’ anymore, it's ‘how?’," he said... Still, the trucking industry is trying, in court and at a federal commission, to block the legal contracts the ports first chose to enforce environmental and other rules... Port Commissioner, Mario Cordero, said the Long Beach harbor commission should let the courts decide which agreements can enforce environmental rules. He stood alone – other commissioners approved the settlement and the new agreements. The Natural Resources Defense Council and a coalition of labor and environment groups have appealed that decision to Long Beach city officials. The city council plans to hear that complaint next month... (Image from wikimedia.org / wikipedia: LA Harbor plan 1900)

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Nov 18, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Environment Group Wants Review

Natural Resources Defense Council questions Long Beach settlement with ATA

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Nov 18, 2009: -- The Natural Resources Defense Council is asking the Long Beach City Council to review the Oct. 19 settlement reached by the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations involving the port's clean truck program... David Pettit, the NRDC's lead attorney in Los Angeles, charged that the harbor commission failed to perform a review of the proposed settlement agreement, as it is required to do under city and state law, to determine if it complies with the California Environmental Quality Act... Under terms of the settlement, the port agreed to drop the motor carrier concession requirements from its clean truck program and replace them with a registration agreement... The port can simply prevent non-compliant trucks on an individual basis from entering marine terminals. The burden of compliance is therefore placed on the owner-operator drivers rather than the trucking companies...

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Nov 15, 2009

RALLIES * USA - To protect integrity of “Clean Trucks Program"

The Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports at Port of Long Beach Urge Port Commissioners to Stop Appeasing Powerful Trucking Polluters

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Maritime Global Net –15 Nov 2009: -- A major news development will be announced by a broad coalition of harbor area residents, port truck drivers, environmentalists, and labor activists at a rally on Monday at the Port of Long Beach. The news, which is being embargoed until then, could have significant ramifications for the environment and labor, not only in the Southland, but in port communities nationally... The news announcement comes on the heels of a controversial settlement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Association in October, which threatens the long-term success of this Port’s program to clean up the “diesel death zone” caused by big trucking industry polluters. Big trucking companies who previously had to meet stringent concession requirements now can merely sign a piece of paper in an “industry honor system” at the Port of Long Beach... The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is an alliance of environmental, labor, faith-based, community and public-health organizations working to promote sustainable trade at the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports. Members include: ...

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Oct 20, 2009

Clean Trucks Programs * USA - Mayors Bloomberg and Booker Urge Congress to Update Old Law

* New York - To Allow Ports Nationwide to Enact Clean Trucks Programs

New York,NY,USA -PRNewswire/USNewswire -Oct 19, 2009: -- Against the backdrop of the East Coast's largest trade complex, New York, Mike Bloomberg, and Newark Mayor, Cory Booker, on Sunday jointly announced their support of the Port of Los Angeles' Clean Truck Program, the nation's most successful program ever for reducing toxic truck emissions. Their endorsement before dozens of local port drivers, community residents, environmental advocates and labor leaders included a call for Congress to ensure an obsolete law cannot be used to roll back LA's clean-air progress or deter other ports from following suit... Big-city mayors on both coasts have now pushed for changes to federal law to remove any doubt that local officials have the legal authority to address the market failures that have spiked public health and poverty statistics to crisis proportions and have earned America's seaports the notorious reputation as the place "where old trucks go to die"... Earlier this week Oakland Mayor, Ron Dellums, also expressed his willingness to educate Congress on the need to amend the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, the arcane 20th century statute that the Beltway-based American Trucking Association has argued in court preempts critical components of the green-growth model developed under the leadership of Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa... (Photo from customhouseguide: clean burning natural gas long beach)


* California - Port of Long Beach, truckers reach settlement on Clean Trucks concessions

Long Beach,CAL,USA -Daily Breeze, by Art Marroquin -19 Oct 2009: -- A settlement was reached Monday between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Association over concession agreements contained in the Clean Trucks Program, officials said... Despite the deal struck with Long Beach, a legal battle continues to brew between the ATA and the Port of Los Angeles over its version of the year-old ban on dirty diesel trucks... Under the settlement, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners agreed to drop its concession program in favor of a registration agreement that focuses on "environmental, safety and security requirements," port officials said... As a result, trucking companies doing business with the Port of Long Beach are no longer required to submit financial reports, parking plans or records on driver training, vehicle maintenance and insurance... However, freight haulers will still have to register their trucks and pay a fee to enter port terminals... (Photo from ens-newswire: hybrid drayage truck)

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Oct 19, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Rush to comply with New Year's ban on dirty trucks at Port of Oakland

* California - ...admitted it doesn't give the drivers much time: "But better late than never"...

Oakland,CAL,USA -The Contra Costa Times, by Cecily Burt -18 Oct 2009: -- In mid-August Mamdoh Ibrahim was nervous but excited. Since June, the trucker had been wading his way through the application process to get a state grant to buy new air filters for two big rigs his business uses to haul cargo to and from the Port of Oakland... Ibrahim is still waiting. He hasn't received the all-important letter telling him his application has been approved, and he is running out of time... Tough new state air regulations take effect Jan. 1, and trucks manufactured from 1994 through 2003 that haven't been outfitted with special diesel exhaust filters to cut down on dangerous emissions will not be allowed entry to California ports... Ralph Borrmann, spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, said the fund will pay for about 150 to 170 new truck replacement grants. The California Air Resources Board has posted a rank list of the grant applications that have been completed... But the letters authorizing the drivers to execute a contract and order new trucks won't go out until the second or third week of November... (Photo from sfgate, by Paul Chinn: Idling trucks line up to pick up cargo at the Port of Oakland)


* New York - Mayors push clean truck program

New York,NY,USA -AP/WGME -October 18, 2009: -- New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and Newark, N.J. Mayor, Cory Booker, are calling on Congress to allow ports across the county to implement the "clean truck program" developed in Los Angeles... It's meant to improve air quality in neighborhoods surrounding ports by forcing new emissions standards on the trucking industry... Bloomberg says the program would allow port authorities to set tough new environmental standards that would effectively require that older trucks be replaced by "cleaner and greener" new ones... Booker, who joined Bloomberg for the announcement in Brooklyn, is urging Congress to support changes in federal legislation that would -- quote -- "enhance the ability of our nation's ports to effectuate policies to improve air quality and protect public health"...

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Oct 14, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - L.A., Long Beach ports spend $9.7 million defending their Program


Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -13 Oct 2009: -- The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have racked up nearly $10 million in legal fees – and that figure should keep climbing... The ports recently agreed to extend a legal contract with Kaye Scholer LLP to $7.5 million. The Port of Long Beach has contracted $2.2 million with Troutman Sanders LLP, according to The Cunningham Report... The American Trucking Associations has sued the ports over portions of the clean trucks programs. The suit has succeeded in stopping the ports from implementing expensive licensing fees for port-approved motor carriers. The ATA is set to go to trial against the ports in February... (Photo from logisticscareers: images cargo)

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posted by Unknown @ 6:18 PM  0 comments

Oct 13, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Oakland port to ban older trucks

Port of Oakland Bans Drayage Trucks With Older Engines. Exceeds ARB Requirements

Oakland,CAL,USA -eTrucker -12 Oct 2009: -- The Oakland Board of Port Commissioners last week adopted a strict truck ban effective 1 January 2010, barring drayage trucks with engine year models earlier than 1994 at the Oakland seaport... Drayage trucks with engine year models between 1994 and 2003 will have to be retrofitted with diesel particulate filters to enter Port of Oakland maritime facilities... The Port of Oakland’s drayage truck ban goes well beyond the requirements of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations by establishing a turn-away requirement for non-compliant trucks at the seaport... The Port of Oakland truck ban would require that the seaport facility operator deny entry to drayage trucks, with very limited exceptions, for those who cannot demonstrate compliance with the CARB January 2010 clean trucks deadline... (Photo from chamoismoon: Port of Oakland)

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