Port of Long Beach Clean Air Program

In an earlier post on my Trucking and Transportation Blog, I mentioned that the Port of Long Beach has adopted the Clean Air Action Plan, or CAAP, for drayage trucks operating in its facilities. This program requires trucks to conform to stricter emissions controls on a phased-in basis.

As part of the implementation of the CAAP, the Long Beach City Attorney's office has amended ordinance number HD-1357 to include the new CAAP requirements. The Port of Long Beach adopted the amendment acting in its capacity as trustee of the land and tidal water that makes up the Port, and its duty to manage the land and water and to mitigate the environmental impact of Port activities on the water, land and surrounding air. These duties and powers are conferred on the Port under the California Constitution Article X, California Public Resources Code section 6306, the Long Beach City Charter, and the California Coastal Act. What this means to concessionaires working as drayage truck drivers at the Port is that they will have to comply with the new emissions requirements under the following schedule:

* By October 1, 2008, the Port will not allow entry to any drayage trucks older than model year 1989;
* By January 1, 2010, the port will not allow entry to any drayage truck that either: (a) is a model year engine 1994 to 2003 that is retrofitted to a level 3 VDECS which achieves at least an 85% reduction in particulate matter emissions and at least a 25% reduction in NOx emissions;
* By January 1, 2012, the port will not allow entry to any truck that does not meet or exceed 2007 model year State and Federal heavy-duty, diesel-fueled, on-road emission standards.

The Port of Oakland is also working to implement its Maritime Air Quality Improvement Program. This program is still in the planning phase, but there is a fair amount of detail about the progress of the program on their web site.

The State of California is moving forward on addressing air quality and other environmental issues. This trend by the ports is not going to go away, and its impact on trucking and transportation will be profound.

Mexican Truck Program Brouhaha In Washington

Chaos in the halls of Congress, where the normally collegial body lost its decorum in a hearing with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.



Wait. I'm sorry, I was thinking of something else. There was more of the same at a recent hearing in the Capitol when Byron Dorgan (D. ND) grilled Secretary Peters. As reported in Transportation Topics, Dorgan drafted a section of the DOT budget bill that cut off funding for a program that would allow up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to operate in the US. A similar number of US carriers could also operate in Mexico under the program. Dorgan has opposed the program.

Secretary Peters argued that the provision in the bill did not cutoff funding for the program, but simply denied funding for any future cross-border trucking program. Dorgan said that this was clearly not the intent of the bill, and accused the DOT lawyers of playing games with their interpretation of the funding (or rather de-funding) provision.

Dorgan is a "D," and Peters is a Bush appointee, so you get a sense of where the two are coming from. Check out the article for Dorgan's dig at the Bush Administration's position on interrogation of enemy combatants (no, it has nothing to do with trucking, but it is entertaining nonetheless).

The cross-border trucking program has all sorts of implications for the US trucking industry, including the effect of competition from low-cost carriers from Mexico, potential safety issues, and driver qualifications.

On an administrative note, I am in the process of moving this blog to my firm website www.ddllaw.com. My goal is to have a general blog where I discuss all the topics that touch upon my practice. Check in every now and then to see the progress!