Post by dockworker on Apr 16, 2009 7:00:24 GMT -5
Environmentalists seek ban on owner-operated diesel trucks at N.J. port
by Brian T. Murray
The Star-Ledger
www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/environmentalists_call_for_ban.html
Friday April 10, 2009,
The independent trucker is an American icon, glorified 30 years ago in B-movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" as the modern cowboy making a living on his own wits and diesel-powered rig.
But it's time for them to hit the highway -- permanently -- charged a coalition of environmental groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today, blaming the bulk of diesel engine pollution in New Jersey and New York ports on owner-operated trucks handling most of the port-hauling business.
Dr. L. Bruce Hill of the Clean Air Task Force uses a fine particulate air monitor to measure the amount of diesel soot at the exhaust of an idling truck fitted with clean air technology at the Tullo Truck Stop on Truck 1 and 9.
Members of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force stood at the Tullo Truck Stop in Kearny, calling for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to implement Los Angeles' controversial ban on independent rigs -- a prohibition lambasted last month by a federal appeals court.
"The only way the industry gets clean engine technology at the ports is if they get rid of the independent contractor who cannot afford newer trucks or to maintain their trucks to reduce emissions," said David Bensman, a Rutgers University labor professor who studied local haulers and joined the coalition.
About 73 percent of the 7,000 truck drivers at Port Elizabeth and Port Newark own or lease their own rigs, according to Bensman.
The American Trucking Association, a national group that supports clean-port initiatives, said cleaner air does not require killing the independent hauler--and that some environmentalists have willingly or unwittingly become part of a Teamsters maneuver to narrow the field of trucking firms working the ports to more easily unionize the drivers.
"It's a con job. If you want to clean up the port, then ban older trucks responsible for the emissions, not independent owner-operated trucks," said spokesman Clayton Boyce, whose association is challenging the California ban.
Fred Potter of Teamsters Local 468 of Hazlet, a coalition member, denied any ploy.
"I look at is as a cleaning up the community, having these workers in a cleaner environment and giving them a chance to still be part of the American dream whether they join a company that is unionized or not unionized. ... Right now, on their own, they aren't making enough to provide for their families," he said.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said last month that banning independent truckers appeared unconstitutional as it reviewed a lawsuit against Los Angeles and Long Beach, California over rules they imposed on their ports last year. The dispute involves rules that truckers disclose their private financial data to prove they can maintain their trucks and Los Angeles banning independent rigs.
The appeals court told a lower court to grant all or part of an injunction against the rules as the case proceeds.
Amy Goldsmith, director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said independents are better off working for trucking companies. She cited Bensman's study at Rutgers, showing independents earn about $28,000 annually, drive old rigs, have no health insurance and are the most at risk from diesel fumes blamed for 8,300 respiratory-related deaths a year.
"I sympathize with their dreams of being entrepreneurs. But the reality is, they are not independent. They are dependent on getting work from brokers ... who decide who gets the work," Bensman added.
Tough clean engine rules already apply to trucks built after 2007, but most rigs on the road are much older. Modifications can be made to improve emissions, but not on trucks built before 1994, said Goldsmith.
by Brian T. Murray
The Star-Ledger
www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/environmentalists_call_for_ban.html
Friday April 10, 2009,
The independent trucker is an American icon, glorified 30 years ago in B-movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" as the modern cowboy making a living on his own wits and diesel-powered rig.
But it's time for them to hit the highway -- permanently -- charged a coalition of environmental groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today, blaming the bulk of diesel engine pollution in New Jersey and New York ports on owner-operated trucks handling most of the port-hauling business.
Dr. L. Bruce Hill of the Clean Air Task Force uses a fine particulate air monitor to measure the amount of diesel soot at the exhaust of an idling truck fitted with clean air technology at the Tullo Truck Stop on Truck 1 and 9.
Members of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force stood at the Tullo Truck Stop in Kearny, calling for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to implement Los Angeles' controversial ban on independent rigs -- a prohibition lambasted last month by a federal appeals court.
"The only way the industry gets clean engine technology at the ports is if they get rid of the independent contractor who cannot afford newer trucks or to maintain their trucks to reduce emissions," said David Bensman, a Rutgers University labor professor who studied local haulers and joined the coalition.
About 73 percent of the 7,000 truck drivers at Port Elizabeth and Port Newark own or lease their own rigs, according to Bensman.
The American Trucking Association, a national group that supports clean-port initiatives, said cleaner air does not require killing the independent hauler--and that some environmentalists have willingly or unwittingly become part of a Teamsters maneuver to narrow the field of trucking firms working the ports to more easily unionize the drivers.
"It's a con job. If you want to clean up the port, then ban older trucks responsible for the emissions, not independent owner-operated trucks," said spokesman Clayton Boyce, whose association is challenging the California ban.
Fred Potter of Teamsters Local 468 of Hazlet, a coalition member, denied any ploy.
"I look at is as a cleaning up the community, having these workers in a cleaner environment and giving them a chance to still be part of the American dream whether they join a company that is unionized or not unionized. ... Right now, on their own, they aren't making enough to provide for their families," he said.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said last month that banning independent truckers appeared unconstitutional as it reviewed a lawsuit against Los Angeles and Long Beach, California over rules they imposed on their ports last year. The dispute involves rules that truckers disclose their private financial data to prove they can maintain their trucks and Los Angeles banning independent rigs.
The appeals court told a lower court to grant all or part of an injunction against the rules as the case proceeds.
Amy Goldsmith, director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said independents are better off working for trucking companies. She cited Bensman's study at Rutgers, showing independents earn about $28,000 annually, drive old rigs, have no health insurance and are the most at risk from diesel fumes blamed for 8,300 respiratory-related deaths a year.
"I sympathize with their dreams of being entrepreneurs. But the reality is, they are not independent. They are dependent on getting work from brokers ... who decide who gets the work," Bensman added.
Tough clean engine rules already apply to trucks built after 2007, but most rigs on the road are much older. Modifications can be made to improve emissions, but not on trucks built before 1994, said Goldsmith.