No More Dirty Trucks at L.A. Ports
Starting Jan. 1, only trucks with clean-burning engines will be allowed to pick up cargo at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex.
Full implementation of the 3-year-old Clean Trucks Program means that only trucks that have 2007 or newer engines will be permitted through the gates to pick up cargo containers and other goods.
The new emissions requirement is just the latest episode in the controversial program, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2008. Since being adopted, it has eliminated more than 11,000 dirty trucks from picking up cargo on the docks. Most of those trucks were driven by independent truckers who owned their rigs.
“We helped replace more than 10,000 pollution-spewing trucks with newer, less-polluting ones, and the bottom line is that our communities can breathe better,” said Susan E. Wise, president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission, which oversees the Port of Long Beach.
Under the Clean Trucks Program, signed by both ports in 2006, older drayage trucks were phased out and replaced with new rigs. The first ban included trucks with 1988 or older engines. On Jan. 1, 2010, the ports banned 1993 and older vehicles. Trucks made between 1994 and 2003 were allowed to call at the ports if they had been equipped with exhaust filters that cut emissions. Trucks that did not meet 2007 engine standards had to pay $35 per 20-foot container to collect cargo.
The Clean Trucks Program, part of the Clean Air Action Plan, has helped the ports eliminate harmful truck emissions by at least 80 percent. Studies show that the Port of Los Angeles has reduced sulfur-oxide emissions by 92 percent and diesel particulate matter by 89 percent, port officials said.
“The Port of Los Angeles, along with our industry partners, has made the business of moving cargo cleaner,” said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. “The results speak for themselves.”—Deborah Belgum
