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Long Beach, L.A. Ports Tout Completion of Clean Truck Program
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Jan. 1 will officially complete an effort to ban all trucks with engine models older than 2007, characterized by local officials as the strictest clean air standard of any major port in the world.
By the new year, a final group of 1,400 older trucks will be replaced with newer models, according to officials at the ports.
The Clean Truck Program was enacted in 2008 to clean the notoriously smoggy air around the two ports, which together handle close to 40 percent of the nation's shipping imports.
The program is part of the larger 2006 San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan, which includes requiring ships to use plug-in electricity when docked at the ports, rather than idling their engines.
The path to completion of the Clean Truck Program was not altogether smooth. A federal appeals court in September threw out a part of the Clean Truck Program that banned independent big-rig drivers, instead requiring them to work for a company. The trucking industry said the requirement would have regulated motor carriers' rates and routes, rather than competition.
"The Port of Los Angeles, along with our industry partners, has made the business of moving cargo cleaner," Port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz said. "The results speak for themselves, and we couldn't be more proud of reaching this milestone."
By the start of the new year, all 11,772 drayage trucks -- the ones that move cargo from ships... Continue reading...
