Post by HardTimeTrucker on Dec 12, 2009 18:05:25 GMT -5
Pollution at the Gates
blogs.uscannenberg.org/madeleine_scinto/2009/12/pollution-at-the-gates.html
Madeleine Scinto| December 11, 2009
By John Guenther and Madeleine Scinto
For six straight years, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed he would take on the trucking industry and impose strict air quality rules that would reduce truck emissions at the Port of Los Angeles by 80 percent by 2012.
The Port of L.A. launched the Clean Truck initiative in 2008 in an effort to scrub clean the air at the country's largest port. By barring older trucks from the port, by requiring other trucks retrofit in stages, and by providing incentives for purchasing newer and cleaner trucks, the plan aimed to hit the port's emissions goal in five years.
What seemed impossible took on a sense of reality in October when the mayor and port officials called a news conference to announce they reached a milestone: truck emissions had dropped 70 percent at the Port of Los Angeles by mid-2009, putting the port three years ahead of its aggressive schedule.
"This is the most successful effort to clean a port in the world," Villaraigosa said. "I mean, think about it. Nobody thought it was possible to retrofit 5,000 trucks in a year, and we're at 5,500 and growing."
No one at the news conference cast much of a skeptical eye. Headlines in the L.A. Times read the next day, "Diesel emissions down drastically at ports of L.A., Long Beach."
A Neon Tommy team of investigative reporters set out to document the progress being touted by all types of organizations, from the Port of L.A. to the National Resources Defense Council.
In interviews with truckers, port officials, and cargo companies, the team discovered truck companies use new and cleaner trucks to pick up cargo at the port, while the old and dirty trucks wait just outside the port to haul the cargo through Los Angeles.
The Truck Swap
"What's the point?" asked Frank Montano repeatedly, a manager of the South Pacific Container truck company.
"What's the difference if you're just going to have a clean truck drive 20 or 40 feet away from the port, and then have a dirty truck pick up the cargo and drive it all over the state?"
As of July the newer, cleaner trucks made up 37 percent of the Port of L.A. truck fleet but completed 60 percent of the cargo pickups, according to Port records.
The statistic indicates while more shiny new trucks move cargo around the port, the older, more polluting trucks still haul the cargo through the L.A. basin.
"Moving a container from a new truck onto an older truck, I've heard that story," said Curtis Whalen, a director of the American Trucking Association (ATA).
The Port, under the Clean Trucks Program, charges owners of older trucks, which fail to meet 2007 EPA standards and emit significantly more diesel emissions, extra fees each time they load cargo at the port.
Trucking companies can skirt paying the fees by using their newest trucks to load the cargo portside. Once outside the port terminal, the cargo can be transferred to older big rigs.
Whalen added, "It's economical simply because switching the cargo from a new truck that doesn't have to pay the port fee onto an older truck allows companies to still use their...older trucks every day for a cheaper cost."
As a result, the new trucks seem to be doing circles around the port. Port of L.A. Director of Operations Chris Cannon said the new trucks average about five cargo pickups a day. Both Cannon and Whalen confirm five cargo loads is considerably more than trucks used to do before the Clean Truck Program began.
"Two years ago, three would be a good day," said Whalen. "The new trucks can't be going very far. They certainly aren't going the 50 miles trucks used to go if they're averaging five gate moves [or cargo loads] a day."
Dr. Mark Bernstein, Directing Manager of USC's Energy Institute, commented that additional measures will need to be considered if this is the case.
"I guess they can do that legally, but it is not within the intent of the regulation," said Bernstein.
Neon Tommy made inquiries with the Port and trucking companies to find out more about where the clean and dirty trucks go. The investigation included filing public records requests with the Port to see which trucks exit the gates.
As of the date of this publication, the Port has not provided a list of trucks entering and exiting the port.
Ozzie Zea, Assistant Vice President of Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT) in Wilmington, says his company's clean trucks only go as far as Carson because otherwise "it's not cost effective." Carson sits ten miles north of the port.
An IBT trucker who works for Zea-- the trucker declined to be named--said his company practices the clean-to-dirty truck swap at their yard.
The older trucks also get better gas mileage than the newer trucks, says ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce. This makes it even cheaper to use the older trucks for the longer hauls through Los Angeles and San Bernardino.
If older trucks do the majority of the long hauls, it means they continue to add to the already polluted I-710 corridor.
Cancer Alley
The corridor, also known as "cancer alley," is one of the most highly polluted areas in the south coast air basin outside of the immediate port area. The goods movement industry has heavily impacted the health of communities like Wilmington, Carson, Compton, Huntington Park and Commerce, all the way to Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Studies by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the South Coast Air Quality Management (SCAQM) have found these particular communities suffer from increased cancer risk compared to the rest of Los Angeles.
Both California air quality agencies confirm diesel emissions make up the majority of cancer-causing air pollution.
CARB discovered diesel emissions from the ports elevate cancer risk levels over the entire 20-mile by 20-mile study area surrounding the port. And SCAQM found diesel exhaust accounts for about 84 percent of region-wide cancer risk.
A study published in November in the American Journal of Public Health showed that nine percent of all childhood asthma cases in Long Beach can be blamed on proximity to freeways and roads serving the port.
A 70% reduction in truck emissions at the port sounds like good news for the communities of cancer alley. But, where did the number come from?
The 70 Percent Solution
"Are you serious?" asked Ozzie Zea of IBT trucking sarcastically. Then he just started laughing loudly. Neon Tommy had asked whether he found the port air to be cleaner.
Neon Tommy filed a second public records request to receive the air monitoring station data or air quality analyses that available to support the 70 percent reduction number.
The Port could not supply air quality data covering the first year of the program.
"What you have asked for, including air monitoring station data, will be part of a full detailed analysis that will happen after the end of 2009, when we will do a full emissions inventory," said the Port of L.A. spokesman, Philip Sanfield.
It turns out that the Port of L.A. used a formula to project a 70 percent reduction in truck emissions.
The Port's formula begins with the average rate of emissions for trucks in each model year from the oldest going all the way up to a brand new truck. Then the numbers of port trucks of each model year are counted up and averaged all together to calculate the average rate of emissions for the entire truck fleet.
Officials then created a hypothetical 2007 fleet and a hypothetical 2009 fleet.
"Then we compared the rate of emissions for the hypothetical average 2007 fleet trucks to the rate of emissions for the hypothetical average 2009 fleet truck," said Cannon.
The difference between the two groups came to about 70 percent.
The calculation, however, does not consider each truck's mileage or the amount of goods they move in a year.
That would get "tricky," said Cannon. "So we chose to use the simpler emissions rate comparison."
This means the port's formula fails to project the entire volume of emissions trucks churn out into the L.A. basin.
The calculation's other shortcoming is it only counts trucks that pick up cargo in its statistics. By not including dirty trucks stopping just outside the port, or entering the port without picking up cargo, the formula produces more favorable results.
Nonetheless, National Resources Defense Council spokesperson Jessica Lass said the formula the port used is an accepted way to estimate emissions.
Lass added she eventually wants to see the hard data to support the estimate of "70 percent." "The formula is a projection and you always want to see projections actually verified by the data," said Lass.
Recession: Real Reason Behind Less Air Pollution?
"The company I work for is going out of business," said driver Bilma Pineada at the wheel of a 1999 truck."The economy is bad. And right now it's not even worth it to buy a new truck because [the company] can't afford the payments."
"Before the recession we worked and ate," said truck driver Victor Gonzales outside a truck stop. "The recession is obligating us to practically undo ourselves and with all the sacrifices we're making. It's just really hard."
Overall particulate matter, which includes other pollutants besides trucks, has decreased in recent years, according to studies by South Coast Air Quality Management.
Sam Atwood, SCAQM spokesman, explained the decrease by saying, "The later parts of 2008 and early 2009 we have seen a significant drop. Part of that is attributable to the economy."
Atwood never mentioned the Clean Trucks Program.
The recent economic downturn means less cargo is coming into the port, which means fewer trucks are needed to haul cargo.
The Port of L.A. right now is facing "the worst depression in the last 50 years," says Cannon, director of operations at the Port of L.A.
There used to be 1500 to 2500 licensed motor carriers (LMC) operating within the port in the years before the program began. By December 1 of this year, the number was down to 836 LMC's, saidSanfield.
Cannon explained that part of the reason for the decrease is that many companies cannot afford the newer trucks. But, he also said the economic decline has played a part.
When Neon Tommy asked Whalen to explain the decrease in pollution, he attributed it to the economy. But, he added, "I'll let the Port of LA say it's their Clean Truck Program."
Clean Truck Program: A Step in the Right Direction
While the Mayor's statements still need support by measured data, the restrictions on dirty trucks have been strongly supported by environmental and community groups.
The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, a group of over 100 environmental, health and labor organizations, fought for the adoption of the program over the objections of some in the trucking industry.
"The Clean Trucks Program plan to reduce truck diesel emissions is one of the most progressive in the world," said Lass of the NRDC, a member of the coalition. "It is significant because truck pollution is a large part of the pollution puzzle."
The program successfully banned all pre-1989 trucks, which are highly pollutant. Trucks that comply with 2007 emissions standards produce 98% less particulate matter than a 1989 model, says Sanfield.
As Dr. Bernstein put it: "Whether it's 80 percent or 82 percent or 78 percent. It doesn't really matter. What matters is you go from where it is today and you cut it down by a lot."
blogs.uscannenberg.org/madeleine_scinto/2009/12/pollution-at-the-gates.html
Madeleine Scinto| December 11, 2009
By John Guenther and Madeleine Scinto
For six straight years, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed he would take on the trucking industry and impose strict air quality rules that would reduce truck emissions at the Port of Los Angeles by 80 percent by 2012.
The Port of L.A. launched the Clean Truck initiative in 2008 in an effort to scrub clean the air at the country's largest port. By barring older trucks from the port, by requiring other trucks retrofit in stages, and by providing incentives for purchasing newer and cleaner trucks, the plan aimed to hit the port's emissions goal in five years.
What seemed impossible took on a sense of reality in October when the mayor and port officials called a news conference to announce they reached a milestone: truck emissions had dropped 70 percent at the Port of Los Angeles by mid-2009, putting the port three years ahead of its aggressive schedule.
"This is the most successful effort to clean a port in the world," Villaraigosa said. "I mean, think about it. Nobody thought it was possible to retrofit 5,000 trucks in a year, and we're at 5,500 and growing."
No one at the news conference cast much of a skeptical eye. Headlines in the L.A. Times read the next day, "Diesel emissions down drastically at ports of L.A., Long Beach."
A Neon Tommy team of investigative reporters set out to document the progress being touted by all types of organizations, from the Port of L.A. to the National Resources Defense Council.
In interviews with truckers, port officials, and cargo companies, the team discovered truck companies use new and cleaner trucks to pick up cargo at the port, while the old and dirty trucks wait just outside the port to haul the cargo through Los Angeles.
The Truck Swap
"What's the point?" asked Frank Montano repeatedly, a manager of the South Pacific Container truck company.
"What's the difference if you're just going to have a clean truck drive 20 or 40 feet away from the port, and then have a dirty truck pick up the cargo and drive it all over the state?"
As of July the newer, cleaner trucks made up 37 percent of the Port of L.A. truck fleet but completed 60 percent of the cargo pickups, according to Port records.
The statistic indicates while more shiny new trucks move cargo around the port, the older, more polluting trucks still haul the cargo through the L.A. basin.
"Moving a container from a new truck onto an older truck, I've heard that story," said Curtis Whalen, a director of the American Trucking Association (ATA).
The Port, under the Clean Trucks Program, charges owners of older trucks, which fail to meet 2007 EPA standards and emit significantly more diesel emissions, extra fees each time they load cargo at the port.
Trucking companies can skirt paying the fees by using their newest trucks to load the cargo portside. Once outside the port terminal, the cargo can be transferred to older big rigs.
Whalen added, "It's economical simply because switching the cargo from a new truck that doesn't have to pay the port fee onto an older truck allows companies to still use their...older trucks every day for a cheaper cost."
As a result, the new trucks seem to be doing circles around the port. Port of L.A. Director of Operations Chris Cannon said the new trucks average about five cargo pickups a day. Both Cannon and Whalen confirm five cargo loads is considerably more than trucks used to do before the Clean Truck Program began.
"Two years ago, three would be a good day," said Whalen. "The new trucks can't be going very far. They certainly aren't going the 50 miles trucks used to go if they're averaging five gate moves [or cargo loads] a day."
Dr. Mark Bernstein, Directing Manager of USC's Energy Institute, commented that additional measures will need to be considered if this is the case.
"I guess they can do that legally, but it is not within the intent of the regulation," said Bernstein.
Neon Tommy made inquiries with the Port and trucking companies to find out more about where the clean and dirty trucks go. The investigation included filing public records requests with the Port to see which trucks exit the gates.
As of the date of this publication, the Port has not provided a list of trucks entering and exiting the port.
Ozzie Zea, Assistant Vice President of Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT) in Wilmington, says his company's clean trucks only go as far as Carson because otherwise "it's not cost effective." Carson sits ten miles north of the port.
An IBT trucker who works for Zea-- the trucker declined to be named--said his company practices the clean-to-dirty truck swap at their yard.
The older trucks also get better gas mileage than the newer trucks, says ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce. This makes it even cheaper to use the older trucks for the longer hauls through Los Angeles and San Bernardino.
If older trucks do the majority of the long hauls, it means they continue to add to the already polluted I-710 corridor.
Cancer Alley
The corridor, also known as "cancer alley," is one of the most highly polluted areas in the south coast air basin outside of the immediate port area. The goods movement industry has heavily impacted the health of communities like Wilmington, Carson, Compton, Huntington Park and Commerce, all the way to Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Studies by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the South Coast Air Quality Management (SCAQM) have found these particular communities suffer from increased cancer risk compared to the rest of Los Angeles.
Both California air quality agencies confirm diesel emissions make up the majority of cancer-causing air pollution.
CARB discovered diesel emissions from the ports elevate cancer risk levels over the entire 20-mile by 20-mile study area surrounding the port. And SCAQM found diesel exhaust accounts for about 84 percent of region-wide cancer risk.
A study published in November in the American Journal of Public Health showed that nine percent of all childhood asthma cases in Long Beach can be blamed on proximity to freeways and roads serving the port.
A 70% reduction in truck emissions at the port sounds like good news for the communities of cancer alley. But, where did the number come from?
The 70 Percent Solution
"Are you serious?" asked Ozzie Zea of IBT trucking sarcastically. Then he just started laughing loudly. Neon Tommy had asked whether he found the port air to be cleaner.
Neon Tommy filed a second public records request to receive the air monitoring station data or air quality analyses that available to support the 70 percent reduction number.
The Port could not supply air quality data covering the first year of the program.
"What you have asked for, including air monitoring station data, will be part of a full detailed analysis that will happen after the end of 2009, when we will do a full emissions inventory," said the Port of L.A. spokesman, Philip Sanfield.
It turns out that the Port of L.A. used a formula to project a 70 percent reduction in truck emissions.
The Port's formula begins with the average rate of emissions for trucks in each model year from the oldest going all the way up to a brand new truck. Then the numbers of port trucks of each model year are counted up and averaged all together to calculate the average rate of emissions for the entire truck fleet.
Officials then created a hypothetical 2007 fleet and a hypothetical 2009 fleet.
"Then we compared the rate of emissions for the hypothetical average 2007 fleet trucks to the rate of emissions for the hypothetical average 2009 fleet truck," said Cannon.
The difference between the two groups came to about 70 percent.
The calculation, however, does not consider each truck's mileage or the amount of goods they move in a year.
That would get "tricky," said Cannon. "So we chose to use the simpler emissions rate comparison."
This means the port's formula fails to project the entire volume of emissions trucks churn out into the L.A. basin.
The calculation's other shortcoming is it only counts trucks that pick up cargo in its statistics. By not including dirty trucks stopping just outside the port, or entering the port without picking up cargo, the formula produces more favorable results.
Nonetheless, National Resources Defense Council spokesperson Jessica Lass said the formula the port used is an accepted way to estimate emissions.
Lass added she eventually wants to see the hard data to support the estimate of "70 percent." "The formula is a projection and you always want to see projections actually verified by the data," said Lass.
Recession: Real Reason Behind Less Air Pollution?
"The company I work for is going out of business," said driver Bilma Pineada at the wheel of a 1999 truck."The economy is bad. And right now it's not even worth it to buy a new truck because [the company] can't afford the payments."
"Before the recession we worked and ate," said truck driver Victor Gonzales outside a truck stop. "The recession is obligating us to practically undo ourselves and with all the sacrifices we're making. It's just really hard."
Overall particulate matter, which includes other pollutants besides trucks, has decreased in recent years, according to studies by South Coast Air Quality Management.
Sam Atwood, SCAQM spokesman, explained the decrease by saying, "The later parts of 2008 and early 2009 we have seen a significant drop. Part of that is attributable to the economy."
Atwood never mentioned the Clean Trucks Program.
The recent economic downturn means less cargo is coming into the port, which means fewer trucks are needed to haul cargo.
The Port of L.A. right now is facing "the worst depression in the last 50 years," says Cannon, director of operations at the Port of L.A.
There used to be 1500 to 2500 licensed motor carriers (LMC) operating within the port in the years before the program began. By December 1 of this year, the number was down to 836 LMC's, saidSanfield.
Cannon explained that part of the reason for the decrease is that many companies cannot afford the newer trucks. But, he also said the economic decline has played a part.
When Neon Tommy asked Whalen to explain the decrease in pollution, he attributed it to the economy. But, he added, "I'll let the Port of LA say it's their Clean Truck Program."
Clean Truck Program: A Step in the Right Direction
While the Mayor's statements still need support by measured data, the restrictions on dirty trucks have been strongly supported by environmental and community groups.
The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, a group of over 100 environmental, health and labor organizations, fought for the adoption of the program over the objections of some in the trucking industry.
"The Clean Trucks Program plan to reduce truck diesel emissions is one of the most progressive in the world," said Lass of the NRDC, a member of the coalition. "It is significant because truck pollution is a large part of the pollution puzzle."
The program successfully banned all pre-1989 trucks, which are highly pollutant. Trucks that comply with 2007 emissions standards produce 98% less particulate matter than a 1989 model, says Sanfield.
As Dr. Bernstein put it: "Whether it's 80 percent or 82 percent or 78 percent. It doesn't really matter. What matters is you go from where it is today and you cut it down by a lot."