Making Green History
For those who missed out on March 20th when the Port of Los Angeles unanimously approved its landmark Clean Trucks Program, please enjoy this inspiring highlight video (available on You Tube here). Or if you were among the hundreds of port drivers, environmentalists, community members and public health advocates who flooded the waterfront to witness LA Harbor Commissioners take the high road to clean air, transport yourself back to that victorious moment.
You may also want to share the video with Harbor Commissioners and others at the Port of Long Beach and remind them to do the right thing. After all, Southern California residents and businesses on both sides of the bridge deserve a program that will reduce diesel pollution by 80 percent, stabilize port trucking and pave the way for sustainable economic growth.
Enviros, Public Health Advocates & Port Drivers Laud Port of LA’s Clean Trucks Program
On March 20th, major environmental and public health groups, harbor community residents, port truck drivers and their families cheered the Port of Los Angeles for unanimously approving a strong and sustainable diesel emissions-reduction plan that must precede future growth. The program makes the trucking industry permanently responsible for turnover to -- and upkeep of -- a clean-technology fleet, in tandem with a progressive ban on old, dirty trucks calling at the ports. Click here to read more about this historic event.
Community speaks with one voice, LB made the wrong choice
On February 19th, a mass of public health advocates, environmentalists, community activists and port drivers turned out to tell Long Beach Harbor Commissioners not to cave to industry pressure and abandon their historic clean air partnership with the Port of LA. Watch the highlights below to see coalition members sending a strong message to the Long Beach Harbor Commission and Mayor Bob Foster: we won't stop until we get all the way to a real clean air solution.
Moving Forward on a Sustainable Pathway to Clean Air
A Statement by CCSP chair Patricia Castellanos
While politics-as-usual corporate deal-making may still be the way to do business in Long Beach, make no mistake: The community will prevail and Long Beach Harbor Commissioners will not prevent the most dramatic-diesel emissions reduction program in LA history from being enacted in Southern California.
For over a year, thousands of environmentalists, port drivers, community residents, clergy, public health groups, labor leaders and others have united with public officials to enact the comprehensive and sustainable Clean Trucks Program introduced jointly both the LA and Long Beach Ports.
But under direction from Mayor Bob Foster, the Long Beach Harbor Commission took an abrupt wrong turn and departed from the twin Ports’ shared roadmap, in order to ram through a scheme that even President Mario Cordero readily acknowledges needs significant work. In the meantime, the Port appears to be foolishly locking themselves into five year contracts with trucking companies, putting on hold its ability to truly break through the roadblocks that make this Port one of the largest sources of toxic air pollution in the region.
Click here to read the complete statement.
Polluted Air Here to Stay with Long Beach Port Truck Scheme
A Statement by CCSP Chair Patricia Castellanos
We are deeply disturbed that the Long Beach Port has rejected a comprehensive and sustainable solution supported by over 30 environmental, public health, community, clergy and labor organizations that will reduce diesel emissions by over 80 percent and fix our broken port trucking system -- and instead intends to ram through a staff-devised scheme that will fail to permanently reduce severe port truck pollution.
In bowing to corporate pressure, Long Beach harbor commissioners are assuring that kids in Long Beach will continue to suffer from asthma and respiratory illness all so Kansans can get a cheaper television set.
Read the complete statement here.
2008: Time for Real Change
Last year harbor community residents and port drivers made major strides in the effort to bring clean air and good jobs to the San Pedro Bay. The ports adopted measures to ban old trucks and to make the big shippers contribute towards the cost of new ones. Now the LA and Long Beach Ports most take action on the most crucial component: force the profitable trucking industry to take responsibility to clean up the pollution caused by goods movement and the broken port trucking system. In fact, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have weighed in on the solution to port pollution, urging Mayors Antonio Villaraigosa of LA, Bob Foster of Long Beach, and Ron Dellums of Oakland to ensure that trucking companies take responsibility for clean trucks by legitimately employing the workers who haul goods.
Drivers to Ports: Help Us Get These Dirty Trucks Off the Road
Drivers have taken strong actions to fix the system that keeps diesel-spewing trucks that harm them, their children, and the community on the road. Over a third of the port driver workforce presented petitions to the Ports to stating their desire to become employees of the trucking companies they haul for. In the fall, hundreds of port truck drivers rallied together with harbor area residents, religious and community leaders, public officials, and radio host El Cucuy to say enough to dirty air and driver exploitation. And recently, drivers signed a letter to mayors Antonio Villaraigosa and Bob Foster expressing concerns that the trucking industry is lobbying for a piecemeal solution that leaves drivers behind.
Legislators focus on misclassification
California’s broken port trucking industry has captured the attention of state lawmakers concerned about driver misclassification and its link to severe harbor-area pollution. The California State Assembly Committee on Labor & Employment recently held special hearings in Long Beach and in Oakland to hear perspectives from academics, lawyers, public officials and environmental and labor leaders on the trucking system that prevents drivers from being able to afford the newest, clean technology.
Various port drivers testified at the hearings about long hours, low pay, and the fact that, in spite of being called independent contractors, they are told when and where to work each day – evidence supported by newly released workforce data showing that fewer than one out of 10 drivers at the LA and Long Beach Ports are employees. “Truly independent contractors might be expected to have multiple clients,” according to Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research. “However, five out of six drivers only work for one trucking company at a time (84 percent).” Read more on these findings...
Enough is Enough
A strong Clean Trucks Program will reduce deadly diesel emissions by 80%, create new, high-road jobs in the community, and bring billions of dollars in benefits to taxpayers and the regional economy, a report by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy showed.
That’s why the public overwhelmingly supports the proposal to make the industry responsible for new, clean trucks and their drivers. One poll showed that 74% of harbor community residents support the plan to cut diesel emissions, and 83% believe the trucking companies, profitable shippers, and big box retailers that profit from global trade should be responsible for cleaning up the environment.
It’s been over a year since the Ports jointly adopted the Clean Air Action Plan. The community cannot wait any longer to ensure our children can breathe healthy air and port drivers can provide for their families. Each week that goes by, two people die prematurely. If the Ports hope to expand, now is the time for bold, comprehensive action.
Clean Air, Good Jobs
Drivers are Taking Action - You Can Help
Clean air and good jobs could be a reality at our ports, but Wal-Mart, Target and the trucking companies are standing in the way. Harbor commissioners will cast their vote soon, so let them know underpaid drivers cannot shoulder the cost of green trucks. The only way to halt deadly pollution is to make environmental accountability the cost of doing business in our communities.