Effective January 1^st, 2011, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey will not allow pre-1994 trucks onto port property. Although we welcome the effort to reduce toxic diesel pollution from old port trucks, this very limited ban is only a first step to address the severe economic and environmental consequences of port trucking’s fundamental market failures. The plan still falls short of a fiscally responsible approach to reduce diesel emissions, improve air quality and create good American jobs.

"It places a severe economic burden on port truck drivers who average $10 to $11 an hour and lack a safety net, rather than the giant shipping companies and trucking outfits that profit from goods movement," said Amy Goldsmith, executive director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation on behalf of the Coalition for Healthy Ports.

Full Statement from Amy Goldsmith, New Jersey Environmental Federation

Port Authority Phasing Out Older Trucks, Jersey City Independent, March 10, 2010

Port Authority Offers Grant to Help Finance Trucks, Star-Ledger, March 10^th, 2010

Report Links Poor Industry Standards in Port Trucking to Public Health Crisis

Premature deaths attributed to diesel pollution in New York and New Jersey will reach more than 3,100 in 2010, according to the Clean Air Task Force. That’s five-and-a-half times the number of homicides in the cities of Newark and New York City combined in 2008, and over two-and-a-half times more than the murder rate across the states of New York and New Jersey in the same year.

View the Press Release here

Click here to download the full PDF version of the report