PETITION FOR A NEW CLEAN TRUCK PLAN AT THE PORTS OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
*This petition was signed by more than 700 port truck drivers and delivered to the Port Authority on December 9th, 2010
As port truck drivers, we sit behind the wheel of heavy-duty trucks for up to 60 hours each week, breathing dangerous diesel emissions. Many of us suffer from the harmful results of diesel pollution: asthma, high blood pressure and other respiratory illnesses plague us, our families and neighbors in port adjacent communities. We understand the real-life consequences of diesel pollution and desperately want to drive clean trucks as we move containers from the piers to warehouses in New Jersey, New York and all along the East coast.
On January 1st, 2011 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will ban pre-1994 trucks from entering the ports. The PANYNJ is offering us grants and low-interest loans in order for us to purchase new trucks, but this program has failed to consider our working and economic conditions. Despite being called “independent contractors”, the majority of us have no control over the frequency at which we move containers or the rates the company pay us for these. The truck ban will push port truckers out of the industry or force us to take on loans that we will not be able to afford, increasing our debt and further jeopardizing our ability to support our families.
We support an efficient and clean port trucking system. However, the Port Authority’s current plan reinforces an unjust system which continues to put port drivers and port communities in harm’s way. By placing the burden of cleaning the air on the backs of port drivers, the current truck ban and the PANYNJ’s Truck Replacement Program will ultimately fail to achieve clean air goals. Port truckers and communities near our ports will continue to suffer.
We believe that the PANYNJ needs to develop a new plan that requires multinational shippers and trucking companies, who profit from the system, to invest in the cost of new, clean trucks.