FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2008

CONTACT: Barb Maynard, 323-351-9321

A Statement on the Port of LA’s Concession Agreement Plan by Tamara Watkins, American Lung Association of California, on behalf of the entire Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports

We are impressed with the Port of Los Angeles’ determination to implement a successful Clean Trucks Program to meet emissions-reduction goals necessary for future green growth.

LA’s concessions plan makes it clear that port officials are serious about making trucking companies permanently responsible for turnover to – and upkeep of – a new clean-technology fleet to help Southern Californians breathe easier. Leading economists have concluded that underpaid workers who serve the drayage industry lack the stability or capital to properly maintain even subsidized clean-technology vehicles.

Port drivers who own rigs built before 1989 are excited to take advantage of strong incentives for truck scrappage, one of the many components that distinguish LA’s green-growth program as sustainable, comprehensive, and far superior in addressing community health concerns to that of Long Beach.

The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is ready to work with LA officials to ensure that the transition to a mature, asset-based employee system runs smoothly and is in tandem with an aggressive ban on old, dirty trucks that begins on October 1.

Port truckers like Ramon Barragan and Miguel Arreguin are among the 18% of the 16,800 drivers who will be the first impacted by the upcoming truck ban – they want to get their dirty, polluting rigs off the road so they can be the first to haul cargo in low-emissions vehicles as employees. Both truckers drive diesel-spewing 1984 models and have signed up for their TWIC credentials. We share their concerns as they await additional assurance that they will be employed prior to the first concessions benchmark in December. We look forward to addressing this issue with the Port in the coming weeks.

Over 30 green, public health, community, labor and faith-based organizations fully back the Port of LA’s innovative market-based model, because it understands the link between the environmental crisis, public health risk, and economic conditions at the nation’s busiest trade complex – we commend them for rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.

Tamara Watkins is a steering committee member of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports.