Post by dockworker on Jun 3, 2009 6:34:44 GMT -5
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Tue, 02 Jun 2009
OAKLAND: PORT COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE ON TRUCK POLLUTION REDUCTION PLAN
Port of Oakland commissioners are scheduled to vote today on a comprehensive truck management program aimed at reducing emissions from trucks that do business at the port.
Port spokesman Robert Bernardo said one element of the plan is to ban old trucks manufactured in 1994 and earlier because they emit high levels of diesel.
The proposal, which the port has been developing for many months, also includes a provision setting aside $5 million to help retrofit 1,000 trucks with new filters intended to reduce air pollution, Bernardo said.
In addition, a truck registry program would be set up to ensure that all trucks that do business at the port comply with air quality standards, he said.
Jon Rodney of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, an alliance of environmental, community and labor groups, said his group supports the port's plan but would also like the port to require trucking companies to hire drivers as employees rather than independent contractors.
Rodney blamed the American Trucking Association, which has filed suit to block portions of a plan to clean up the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach - including a ban on hiring drivers as independent contractors - for slowing progress in the cleanup of Oakland's port.
Because of that litigation, Rodney said, the Port of Oakland is reluctant to institute reform that would "end sweatshop working conditions."
"The trucking industry has used obstructionist tactics and got an injunction" against Los Angeles' clean trucks program, he said. A trial on the merits of the case is scheduled for December.
Rodney said the trucking group's "legal roadblock puts more children, drivers, residents and workers at risk for asthma, cancer and other illnesses."
But Clayton Boyce of the American Trucking Association, which is based in Virginia, discounted Rodney's allegation because a requirement to have truck drivers become employees doesn't have anything to do with cleaning up the air.
"The people pushing to make truck drivers employees don't have the environment in mind and only want to help unions get more employees who will pay more union dues," Boyce said.
Boyce said the trucking group supports regulations that ban older trucks that have high emission levels, but it opposes regulations that would tell trucking companies how to run their businesses.
He said many truckers want to work independently because they can make more money and work for smaller companies.
Boyce said the trucking industry's litigation in Los Angeles is based on U.S. Supreme Court rulings that say that state and local governments cannot enact laws that govern the price, route or service of truckers.
Beacon Economics of Los Angeles, a consulting firm hired by the Port of Oakland, recommended in a report last month that the port implement a requirement to have truck drivers become employees.
Bernardo said port commissioners will vote on accepting that report today but are expected to stop short of implementing its recommendations because of the ongoing litigation in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
"We're following what's going on in Southern California," Bernardo said.
At today's meeting, which will is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. at port headquarters at 530 Water St. in Oakland, port commissioners also will consider allocating $70 million for an elevated tramway from BART's Oakland Coliseum station to the Oakland International Airport.
The funds would come from a surcharge on airline tickets.
Funding from the port is an important piece of the financial puzzle for the airport connector project, which was approved by BART directors on May 14 and is projected to cost $522 million.
The Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports will hold a rally outside the port's headquarters at 4 p.m. today.