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Jan 20, 2010

CLAIMS * USA - Freight Groups Seek Change in Calif. Air Rules

Proposed regulations would increase costs, say trucking, warehouse interests

Sacramento,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Jan 19, 2010: -- Freight interests in California and the West are petitioning the California Air Resources Board to revise proposed regulations for low-carbon fuel and a cap-and-trade mechanism for the freight transportation system... The proposed draft regulations would significantly increase the cost of trucking and warehouse operations in California and would not achieve the environmental goals that spawned the initiatives, the freight interests stated... The International Warehouse Logistics Association and the Western States Goods Movement Alliance submitted their statements to CARB for consideration as the air-quality agency works to finalize the regulations... The freight organizations cited draft CARB regulations that would mandate a California-only reformulated, low-carbon diesel fuel; new standards that would require an increase in the use of renewable fuel and a requirement that warehouse operations with truck fleets retrofit their trailers or purchase new trailers that meet federal Environmental Protection Agency “Smart Way” standards... Also, rather than saddle California with a single-state requirement that will cause businesses to move to neighboring states that do not have such regulations, the organization wants CARB to wait until a low-carbon standard is adopted by all of the western states...(Photo from latimesblogs.latimes: ports)

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Feb 1, 2009

CLEAN AIR PLANS * USA - California pollution control board supports ‘truck weight reform’

San Joaquin Valley,CAL,USA -Land Line Magazine -January 30, 2009: -- An air quality district in California is in support of heavier truckloads in order to cut emissions, a position that OOIDA says is ineffective... One district official said the agency is open to all arguments on the issue... Recently the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Governing Board formally endorsed a plan to increase truck weights on federal highways to 97,000 pounds for commercial trucks hauling raw agriculture commodities and forest products. The endorsement is the first such move made to endorse the heavier weight mission, requested by the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition (AgTEC)... The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is a regional environmental agency that oversees eight counties in the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin, including the largest agricultural production region in California... Board members approved the endorsement because they’re looking for any ways to reduce emissions and hadn’t seen counterarguments to longer/heavier truckloads, said Tom Jordan, senior policy advisor with the air quality district...

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Dec 15, 2008

Port Air Pollution * USA - Riles regulators, neighbors

San Jose,CA,USA -The Contra Costa Times/The San Jose Mercury News, by Denis Cuff -13 Dec 2008: -- Community groups and clean air advocates and regulators were counting on big commitments from the Port of Oakland this fall to slash diesel truck pollution that has contributed to a higher cancer risk in West Oakland... Now they are fuming, saying the city-owned seaport has pulled back rather than pay out for cleaner air, and public health as well as the port's long term financial health may suffer as a result... The tensions are ramping up as ports and truckers struggle to meet new California pollution requirements in the midst of hard economic times sweeping over the shipping industry... Without enough clean trucks, port business could be severely disrupted, air quality regulators say, because hundreds of the 2,000 trucks that use the port are believed to need pollution upgrades...

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Dec 6, 2008

Port Air Pollution * USA - Riles regulators, neighbors

Community groups and clean air advocates and regulators were counting on big commitments from the Port of Oakland this fall to slash diesel truck pollution ...

San Jose,CAL,USA -The San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times, by Denis Cuff -5 Dec 2008: -- ... that has contributed to a higher cancer risk in West Oakland... Now they are fuming, saying the city-owned seaport has pulled back rather than pay out for cleaner air, and public health as well as the port's long term financial health may suffer as a result... The tensions are ramping up as ports and truckers struggle to meet new California pollution requirements in the midst of hard economic times sweeping over the shipping industry... Oakland port commissioners voted Nov. 19 to indefinitely postpone a planned $5 million contribution to a government pool of grants for owners of old trucks to install diesel soot filters required by the state for trucks that want to keep visiting ports after Jan. 1, 2010... Port officials said the troubled economy is hitting the shipping industry so hard that the port, a landlord for many interrelated maritime businesses, has a fiscal responsibility to reassess how it spends to reduce pollution...(Photo from CBS - Trucks at the Port of Oakland)


* Compressed Natural Gas Trucks Arrive at Long Beach/Los Angeles Ports for Demonstration Project

Long Beach/Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Official Export Guide -December 4, 2008: -- On December 2, the Southern California Gas Co., together with officials from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), announced the launch of a 12-month demonstration of the nation’s first clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG)-fueled drayage trucks to transport cargo containers... To study the use of natural gas in port operations, four heavy-duty CNG trucks will move containers between the San Pedro Bay ports and nearby freight-consolidation yards... About two-thirds of the 15 million container units coming into the San Pedro Bay ports annually are moved by truck within a 25-mile radius of the docks. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles launched their Clean Trucks Program October 1... Following the initial 12-month demonstration project, the gas company hopes to switch the fuel from CNG to a CNG/hydrogen blend, with the aim of further reducing emissions...

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Sep 16, 2008

Air Quality Regulations * USA - Proposed truck emission rules could cost farmers

New state air quality regulations could force diesel-powered truck operators to spend thousands of dollars to retrofit or replace their vehicles in coming years

San Jose,CA, USA -The San Jose Mercury News - 16 Sept 2008: -- The California Air Resources Board will consider the regulations in December and is seeking comment from those who will be affected by the changes. A workshop sponsored by the Central Coast Ag Task Force will be held today in Hollister... The regulations are designed to meet federal clean air standards by reducing particulates and other toxic emissions. The proposal would give operators of small fleets until 2023 to comply. Those with more than four trucks would have to begin upgrading in 2010... The regulations would apply to trucks and buses weighing more than 14,000 pounds... Some larger field-to-processor trucks would be subject to the regulations, as would trucks that pull trailers... Tom Rider of H.A. Rider and Sons, said semis can cost in excess of $100,000, and that's without the trailer. Owners expected them to last for years. Retrofits could cost as much $20,000...

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Jun 19, 2008

PORT OF L.A * USA - Independent truck ban wins OK

Haulers plan to file lawsuit against the city, saying the policy violates free-trade laws



Torrance,CA,USA -The Daily Breeze, by Art Marroquin -17 June 2008: -- All short-haul truck drivers entering the Port of Los Angeles must become employees of licensed motor carriers by the end of 2013 as part of the final element of the Clean Trucks Program approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council... In response, a national trucking group intends to file a lawsuit against the city within the next three weeks, claiming that the new mandate will violate federal free-trade laws by banning independent owner-operator truck drivers from the port... Opponents also said the plan unfairly favors large-scale licensed motor carriers to hire the drivers as employees, which will eventually drive smaller carriers out of business... Said Curtis Whalen of the American Trucking Association, "The city is attempting to regulate a deregulated market by reducing competition and determining employee status. This aspect is not about cleaning up the air."... Despite threats of a lawsuit, the Federal Maritime Commission - the agency that determines commerce law - gave its blessing last week to L.A.'s truck concession program. FMC officials said that competition will not be harmed and there were no reasons to delay the program's start date... (Video from Youtube, by USCGImagery - July 16, 2007: "Pollution Response Team, Los Angeles" (Time Warner Production) - U.S. Coast Guard pollution response team patrols Los Angeles - Long Beach harbor. Posted with permission of Time Warner Cable, SOCAL News)

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Jun 4, 2008

CLEAN AIR COSTS * USA - CARB's diesel emission rule too costly

This technology isn't even in production yet so it is impossible to put an exact price tag on it. Raley's Supermarkets is testing one of these new diesel exhaust cleansing systems on just 20 newer-model big rigs at a cost of $500,000.

San Francisco,CAL,USA -The San Francisco Chronicle, by Bob Ramorino -June 3, 2008: -- ... For the past several years, California's trucking industry has worked closely with the state Legislature and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to find practical, realistic ways to clean up diesel trucks, and to accomplish that goal without putting an undue burden on California's businesses and consumers... Although this regulation is still a work in progress, its impact is clear: In the next five years, every diesel truck and bus operating in California, regardless of the year it was manufactured, will be required to meet the new emission standard. Targeting older diesel vehicles is one thing, but to make a one-size-fits-all rule that even targets trucks less than 5 years old puts a heavy burden on businesses in California... Despite claims to the contrary that have run on these pages, given our state's $17.2 billion budget deficit, precious few state resources are available to pay for this sort of far-reaching regulation... Some have mentioned new technology that can help diesel trucks meet these new standards. Unfortunately this technology isn't even in production yet so it is impossible to put an exact price tag on it. Consider that Raley's Supermarkets is testing one of these new diesel exhaust cleansing systems on just 20 newer-model big rigs at a cost of $500,000. This system still needs to be certified by CARB and probably wouldn't be on the market until 2010. If we try to multiply these same costs by the hundreds of thousands of diesel trucks and buses that would fall under the new CARB regulation, we are looking at a regulation that would come with an unprecedented price tag just to retrofit trucks and buses. This doesn't include the cost of new diesel trucks, which can range anywhere from $120,000 to $150,000 each...

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May 16, 2008

CLEAN AIR PORT DEBATE * USA - Environmentalists Oppose Air-Cleanup Plan

Long Beach,CAL,USA -The Wall Street Journal (NY,USA), by Jim Carlton -14 May 2008: -- The Port of Long Beach adopted an ambitious plan in February to clean its air by replacing thousands of aging diesel trucks that haul cargo at the facility. But the plan faces an unlikely opponent: a big environmental group... The point of contention is that the port's plan doesn't guarantee that driving jobs will go to trucking-company employees, who are easier for unions to organize than independent owner-operators. That doesn't sit well with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group whose stated mission is to "safeguard the Earth" and also is tied closely to to labor unions. The group, based in New York, has threatened legal action that might block the port's emission-cutting plan.... The environmental group's alliance with the Teamsters is part of a general accord many green groups have forged with organized labor in recent years to pool their resources in common struggles, such as that over the globalization of commerce...

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May 4, 2008

New Clean-air Rules for Trucks * USA - Set off battle between enviros, industry

Sacramento,CAL,USA -The Capitol Weekly, by John Howard & Anthony York -May 01, 2008: -- As the nation focuses on greenhouse gas regulations set into motion by landmark legislation in 2006, state regulators are set to pass a less-publicized, wide-reaching rule on emissions from diesel busses and trucks that business groups say could cost billions of dollars to implement... As drafted, the rule would have required on-road diesel fleets to meet 2007 emission standards by 2010, either through the use of new engines or through the use of mechanical traps fitted to the engines. Ultimately, the ARB's overall goal is to cut diesel emissions 85 percent below the 2000 level by 2020... A critical piece of the draft regulation required some truckers' engines to be replaced twice in nine years in order to comply with the rule, but that language has been eliminated from the draft regulation, the ARB said... Julie Sauls, a spokeswoman for the California Trucking Association, said she did not know how many trucks on the road would need new engines, or be fitted with particulate-matter traps. But she said the cost of such an upgrade ranges from $15,000 to $30,000 per truck... State regulators estimate the total impact of the diesel regulations at $4 billion, but critics say the price tag could be twice that, or more. The particulate-matter traps may not be suitable for some vehicles, critics note, requiring those owners to get new engines. New trucks cost about $150,000 each...

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Mar 22, 2008

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)

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