FMC drops clean truck challenge, Oakland adopts plan

The Federal Maritime Commission said Tuesday it is dropping its challenge to the clean trucks program of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
  

Meanwhile, Port of Oakland commissioners reportedly voted 5-1 on Tuesday to adopt their own clean truck plan to effect Jan. 1, 2010, and restrict truck models older than 1994, as well as models from 1994 to 2006 not equipped with soot filters.
  

The FMC said it asked the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. to withdraw its challenge to the "Los Angeles-Long Beach Port Infrastructure and Environmental Programs Cooperative Working Agreement."
  

The FMC had challenged parts of the agreement including concession requirements that mandated exclusive use of employee-drivers in the Port of Los Angeles.
  

In April the court denied the FMC's request for a preliminary injunction to remove certain elements of the agreement it believed to be substantially anti-competitive, while permitting the ports to implement those elements program that produce clean air and improve public health.
  

In a separate lawsuit initiated by the American Trucking Associations Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, on April 28 enjoined, among other things, the Port of Los Angeles employee-driver mandate.
  

The FMC said its request for an injunction "has become moot due to intervening events in the ATA litigation over which the commission had no influence or control. In addition, effective on or about May 4, the Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners took action that substantially eliminated the differences between the two Ports' exemptions from its Clean Truck Fees and incentives to truckers."
  

The FMC also noted "the steep economic downturn has made it unlikely that the circumstances presently exist to produce an unreasonable increase in transportation costs with respect to shipping through the San Pedro Ports."
  

FMC Chairman Joseph E. Brennan stated: "While today's action remains subject to approval of the U.S. District Court, I am gratified that we have taken this step to clear the path for the Ports' Clean Trucks Programs."
  

Brennan, who was named chairman of the agency last week by President Obama, had opposed his two fellow commissioners in seeking the injunction.
  

California officials and activists applauded the decision.
   "I am pleased that we can move forward with our Clean Truck Program without interference,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “We hope and expect the FMC to similarly resolve its pending investigation so that we can all put these matters behind us and continue our work to green the port.”
  

“We’re pleased with the removal of the FMC’s challenges to our program,” added Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz. “Our Clean Truck Program is ahead of schedule with successful turnover of the older fleet. Today, more than 5,000 2007-compliant trucks are handling over 50 percent of the container hauls at our port.”
  

"Protecting the public health is at the heart of the Clean Trucks Program, and it is paramount to all other concerns,” said David Pettit, director of the Southern California Air Program for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “All Californians should appreciate that President Obama and a federal agency recognized our need to get these dirty trucks off of our roads once and for all. The only way to do that is to make well-capitalized companies -- not low-wage workers -- responsible for a new, clean-burning fleet.”
  

That link -- between the drive for clean trucks to calls for reorganizing the drayage industry around larger companies rather than relying on independent owner-operators -- has been opposed by some draymen, and viewed by opponents of the clean truck program as part of an effort to unionize the port trucking industry.

 

(Source: American Shipper)