Ports to Delay Fee Collection for Clean Trucks Program
The much-debated Clean Trucks Program at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will start as scheduled on Oct. 1. But the fee to fund the program probably won’t go into effect until late October or November.
“We are telling people to sign up and be ready,” said Art Wong, a spokesperson for the Port of Long Beach.
The Clean Trucks Program, adopted last year by both ports, hopes to reduce by 2012 about 80 percent of the diesel pollution coming from the more than 16,000 trucks that haul cargo in and out of the ports.
Starting Oct. 1, all pre-1989 trucks will be banned from the ports. By 2012, only trucks that comply with 2007 EPA standards will be allowed into the ports’ terminals.
As part of the program, the ports are raising nearly $2 billion to help trucking companies and drivers buy newer trucks through leases and loans. This will be funded by a $35-per-20-foot cargo container fee, which now won’t be collected until weeks later while the ports install a fee-collection software system called PortCheck.
However, all trucking companies and/ or drivers will be required to be registered with the ports as concessionaires by Oct. 1 to access the terminals.
The concession portion of the Clean Trucks Program has been the most controversial part of the program. In late July, the American Trucking Associations filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeking a preliminary injunction that would stop the concession requirement. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder denied the ATA’s request for a preliminary injunction. The ATA appealed the ruling to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Sept. 24 upheld the lower court’s decision.
Currently, the Port of Long Beach has about 500 concessionaires signed up, representing 8,000 trucks, Wong said.
The Port of Los Angeles has 300 concessionaires signed up, representing 14,906 trucks, said port spokesperson Theresa Adams-Lopez.
Although the ports won’t be collecting fees, they will be handing out window stickers to trucks that comply with the program. Also, all truck drivers must have a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, also known as a TWIC card, or a receipt showing they have applied for the card in order to comply with enhanced security measures. —Deborah Belgum
