Mayor Enacts Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program

The law is designed to reduce the numbers of premature deaths caused by inhaling the air pollution from Port activities. Every year 2,400 premature deaths statewide and 1,200 in the South Coast Basin are caused by port-related pollution, according to the California Air Resource Board.

"Los Angeles has said enough is enough. When 1,200 lives are cut short every year by toxic emissions coming from the Port, we have a moral mandate to act fast and effectively," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "That is why I am signing into law the cornerstone segment of the world's most comprehensive, sustainable plan to clean up a major port."

Developed by the Port and management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, the program combines three elements - incentives and fees for clean trucks; a shift to an asset-based employee model; and creating community friendly provisions for areas near the Port.

"The Clean Truck Program puts Los Angeles on the road toward cleaner air," said Los Angeles Harbor Commission President S. David Freeman. "This historic law is a victory for our environment, our health and our economy."

Moving forward on implementation of the program, 20 percent of the dirtiest trucks will be replaced with alternative fuel trucks by October.

Under the Clean Truck Program signed into law today, the Port will put in place a series of incentives and fee exemptions to encourage the replacement of the remaining 80 percent of the dirty diesel trucks ahead of schedule.

Included are fee exemptions for alternative fuel trucks and privately-funded truck retrofits that meet the 2007 EPA standards.

In addition, the Port is offering $5,000 to current truck-owners for any trucks dating from before 1989. These are the trucks that cause some of the worst pollution in the Harbor area, and they will be banned outright beginning October 1, 2008.

In order to create a system to meet the Port's environmental goals over the long haul, the Clean Truck Program sets in motion an "asset- based employee model" that shifts accountability to licensed trucking companies.

The program will require trucks operating at the Port to be owned and registered by companies given a five-year permit, or concession, in order to access the Port.

Trucks entering the Port of Los Angeles terminal (Photo courtesy Port of Los Angeles)

These concessionaires will employ truck drivers and be held accountable for ensuring that all trucks meet the requirements of the Clean Truck Program over the long run - from proper maintenance of trucks to security and licensing. This system is more structured than the loose, independent structure without safeguards now in effect at the Port.

Creating a registry of credentialed drivers and trucks, the program will help state and local law enforcement to identify trucks and employees, and connect trucks to their owners.

The final major component of the Clean Truck Program entails creating community friendly provisions to ease the burden of truck activity placed on communities near the port.

These will require employers to have a legitimate place of business and provide proof of adequate off-street parking for their trucks.

Tighter controls over on-street parking, coupled with employer control over when and where drivers can operate their trucks, will help reduce the number of big rigs driving through and parking in residential neighborhoods adjacent to the port.

In addition to the high rate of premature deaths, asthma rates among children living in neighborhoods near the two ports that share San Pedro Bay - the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach - are double the national average. Fifteen percent of all children under 17 suffer from asthma.

Dock workers and truck drivers face elevated risks of lung and throat cancer, according to U.S. Census figures and local studies.

The ports account for more than 20 percent of the toxic air emissions in the South Coast Air Basin as well as more smog and particulate-forming nitrogen oxide emissions than all six million cars in the region, according the South Coast Air Quality Management District, SCAQMD.

Studies by the SCAQMD and the California Air Resources Board put the economic impact of premature deaths due to port pollution alone to reach $5.9 billion by 2025.

In November 2007, the Mayor and Harbor Commission set a five-year timetable, requiring all trucks to be replaced or retrofitted to meet 2007 diesel truck emissions standards set by the U.S. EPA by 2012.

In December 2007, the Port laid the financial groundwork to pay for the retrofitting by approving a $35 fee for every container entering or leaving the Ports on a truck as of June 1, 2008.

Last week the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the Clean Truck Program.

"We know the port will continue to grow, but we must ensure that the growth does not impact our health," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said today. "This program will not only clean up our air, it will create good jobs throughout Southern California so more people can benefit from the goods movement industry."

An economic impact study commissioned by the San Pedro Bay ports indicates that replacing the present truck fleet and accomplishing the other measures outlined in the Clean Air Action Plan will create 300,000 to 600,000 jobs over the next two decades.

Together, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle 44 percent of all container goods entering America. They make up the world's fifth busiest port complex by container volume and port managers say they expect to see container volumes triple by 2020.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.