FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2008

CONTACT: Barb Maynard, 323-351-9321 ; Jania Palacios, 520-404-7643

A Statement on the Industry Lawsuit to Block Port Clean-Up by Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports partner Rev. Mary Jo Bradshaw

Today the American Trucking Association filed a lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach’s separate Clean Trucks Programs. The following statement is from Reverend Mary Jo Bradshaw, who is also a Long Beach mother and grandmother, on behalf of the entire Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, an alliance of over 30 environmental, public health, faith-based, community and labor organizations:

“The American Trucking Association’s action today proves that their claim to share the goal of port clean-up has always been disingenuous, empty rhetoric. Southern Californians are literally dying for clean air – not for a pair of sneakers that cost a nickel less. As a woman of faith and a mother, grandmother, and Long Beach resident, I am sick and tired of big industry polluters putting my family and congregants at risk because they won’t pay to clean up their toxic mess.

“How dare the nation’s largest trucking lobby bully its way in our backyard. For too long the companies have been making a killing off of goods movement, while we live with the consequences of the poisonous air they create.

“The ports, as property owners, have every right to establish rules for doing business, and it’s about time they did – real people do in fact die from port pollution. Diesel from old, dirty rigs causes soaring rates of asthma, cancer, cardiac arrest and respiratory illness, and it needlessly kills two residents of my community each and every week.

“The Los Angeles Harbor Commission, City Council, and Mayor Villaraigosa did the right thing for our children and all Southern Californians in passing a comprehensive, sustainable LA Clean Trucks Program that will reduce emissions by 80%. Not only do environmentalists and public health advocates support it, economists say it will boost the regional economy and help responsible companies compete.

“The Long Beach Harbor Commission took a wrong turn with their plan, which only protects the wealth of the industry instead of the health of the community. In a disastrous scheme that will bankrupt working families, immigrant drivers who earn third-world wages will be forced to buy up to 16,000 clean trucks through predatory, high-interest loans and leases. It’s an industry giveaway but not enough for the ATA’s lawyers – they’re still taking Long Beach to court to evade the program’s minimal new requirements for motor carriers.

“It is immoral to place profit and politics above people and public health. Shame on the ATA for their plot to perpetuate a broken system that makes communities suffer, and forces taxpayers to foot the bill. Now is the time for Mayor Bob Foster to show moral courage and finally give the workers and residents of Long Beach a program that creates good jobs and clean air, too.

“This industry’s obstructionism – which risks our children’s lives – demonstrates why this broad coalition has come together and will stay together. We deserve and demand nothing less than a plan that ensures companies and corporations are responsible for owning and maintaining a fleet of alternative-fuel and low emissions trucks to sustain environmental clean-up in the long term.”