That's a portion of a leaflet the Port of Long Beach is distributing to port drivers about its clean trucks scheme. The document only confirms our suspicions, namely, that Long Beach is leaving plenty of room to doubt they'll commit to the strictest environmental standards.

We'll have more to say later about the LB plan's reckless financing system, fictitious offer of employee choice, and laughable healthcare provision, but for the moment let's follow Mayor Bob Foster's lead and focus on the real issue here, cleaning the air. See that last bullet point above, the one that says, "New trucks can be used for more than 10 years"? It's hard not to interpret that as a blessing for 2007 diesel trucks to be idling around the ports until almost 2020.

At the very least Long Beach is waffling on a commitment to precisely the kind of clean air standards that marked its partnership with Los Angeles under the historic Clean Air Action Plan.

Let's review. So far the Long Beach has plan has been:

• Panned by environmentalists and public health advocates for weak and ambiguous environmental standards

• Given a lukewarm reception by representatives of prominent shippers who want to see its standards further weakened

• And threatened with legal action by the American Trucking Association.

Mayor Bob Foster's insistence that he's focusing on cleaning up the air is starting to sound a little strained. Looks more like he's trying to clear a mine field.