VIDEO: Congressional Hearing on U.S. Port Trucking

New York Congressman Champions Congressional Efforts to Modernize Transportation System: Bring LA's Successful - but Threatened - Green Growth Initiative to Ports Nationwide

Members of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports and our sister organization, the Coalition for Healthy Ports took Washington, DC by storm by testifying at a Congressional hearing on the unprecedented success of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Clean Truck Program and the negative consequences of the American Trucking Associations' attempt to block key elements from being implemented.  A low-income port driver, believed to be the first such worker , appeared before Congress and was joined by a leading environmental attorney, an elected leader of the largest union of transportation workers, as well as top a top official of America's largest port.

The hearing marks a critical turning point in the public conversation on this issue. During the course of the hearing members of Congress asked tough question and it became clear that port drivers are being forced to bear the costs of clean air, while the trucking industry is getting a free ride. 

Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the Highways & Transit Sub-Committee called for an investigation into allegations of "sham" lease agreements and misclassification of port truck drivers as "independent contractors."

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) announced that he is introducing legislation to amend Federal Motor Carrier statutes so ports can enact and enforce Clean Truck Programs similar to the Port of Los Angeles .

Here are some media reports on the hearing:

CLICK HERE TO WRITE YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS!

Eighty-seven million Americans live and work in regions near ports that violate Federal air quality standards, where rates and risk of asthma, cancer and respiratory illnesses are rampant.

Congress is holding a hearing about the impact of port trucking on May 5th, and they need to hear from you now! Please join port truck drivers, environmental advocates and community residents across the country and ask Congress to support real clean truck programs at our ports.

CLICK HERE TO WRITE YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS!

 

Clean Air, Workers’ Rights Advocates Praise Rep. Jerrold Nadler for Leading Effort to Modernize U.S. Port Trucking System

 

78 Members of Congress Lend Their Voices to Growing Momentum to Fight Pollution and Poverty as Critical May 5^th Congressional Hearing Approaches

 

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) earned immediate praise from an unprecedented national coalition of more than 100 environmental, public health, labor, and community groups for a letter he sent to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) and Ranking Member John Mica (R-FL). Another 78 House members joined the highest ranking Northeastern member of the House Committee to support federal legislation that would allow the nation’s ports to enact innovative local solutions to create thousands of green jobs and meet and sustain federal air quality standards.  (Click here to read more.)

 

Race to the Bottom, a film by Jonathan King and Michael Hamm, featuring three Oakland port drivers and West Oakland residents fighting to improve trucking jobs and decrease diesel pollution has been selected as a finalist in the U.S. EPA Faces of The Grassroots Environmental Justice Video Contest. (Click here to view the video) "Race" screens at a Capitol Mall Earth Day celebration.

 

 

Faces of the Grassroots Environmental Justice Video Contest | Environmental Justice | Compliance and

Environmental, Business, Labor Consumer & Community Advocates Send Letters to Key Transportation Leaders in Congress to Call for Amendment to Modernize Trucking Law

In letters sent to Rep. Jim Oberstar, Rep. John Mica, and other transportation and ranking Members of Congress, 113 organizations and stakeholders nationwide urged federal lawmakers to help protect the most effective initiative to clean up port truck pollution in the nation.  Together the signers represent over 12 million Americans and are as diverse as the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization; a multi-service port operator and transportation service provider worth $60 million in annual revenue; and the nation's largest union of transportation and logistics workers. (Click here to read more.)

NATIONAL “BLUE-GREEN” COALITION APPLAUDS KEY OBAMA APPOINTEE’S INAUGURAL EARTH DAY AWARD TO LA CLEAN TRUCK PROGRAM 

Federal Maritime Commission Recognizes Port of Los Angeles’ Leadership in Advance of Congressional Hearing May 5  

A coalition of more than 100 environmental, public health, labor and community groups nationwide is applauding the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) for its recognition of the LA Clean Truck Program. The distinguished honor comes just as industry clean-air opponents are attempting to dismantle the successful green-growth initiative in U.S. District Court, a move that has prompted a Transportation & Infrastructure subcommittee hearing in Congress on May 5.   (Click here to read more.)

Less than a week before the trucking industry puts the U.S. EPA award-winning LA Clean Trucks Program on trial, a new report issued by several reputable "blue-green" organizations warns that Southern California trucking companies must resume financial responsibility for their fleet or the new engines will pollute. Port drivers who lack sufficient resources to properly maintain their company's clean trucks and are often forced to skimp on repairs stood alongside their environmental, community and labor advocates to present "From Clean to Clunker: The Economics of Emissions Control" to the Los Angeles Boards of Harbor Commissioners.

Learn more: Download the report (PDF)

Top American Port Official Presses Washington to Amend Outdated Law; Congressional Action Would Help Protect Comprehensive Local Initiatives that Improve Air Quality and Spur Green Job Growth

New York-New Jersey Port Authority Echoes Big-City Mayors, Environmental-Labor Groups’ Federal Push for Local Officials to Have Real Power to Clean Up Diesel Truck Pollution

A broad environmental-labor coalition fighting to protect the nation’s most successful diesel truck emissions-reduction model – the LA Clean Truck Program – got a boost in their appeal to Congress from the head of America’s second largest regional trade complex. Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s Executive Director Chris Ward called on federal lawmakers to remove any doubt that U.S. seaports possess the regulatory power to enforce strict operational standards on the trucking industry to improve air quality, public health, safety and security.

"We are also working on the FAAAA bill to find additional federal regulations that would allow us to use effective regulatory tools," Ward said at a press conference, referencing a push that major port-city mayors on both coasts have led to modernize outdated statutes of the1980 federal motor carrier act. "We’re committed to a national strategy along with the Port of LA," he added. (Click here to read more.)

Environmental-labor alliance to fight poverty, pollution at American ports gets national attention with New York Times story

From New York to Los Angeles, mayors, port authorities recognize need to properly classify drivers as employees and place burden of truck maintenance on companies. The New York Times highlights the unprecedented blue-green alliance of labor, port drivers and environmentalists that’s appealing to Members of Congress to protect an innovative green-growth model to clean the air and good jobs at U.S. seaports.  (Click here to read more.)

Click here to read Clearing the Air at American Ports by Steven Greenhouse.

9th Circuit Ruling on LA Clean Truck Program Upholds Lower Court Decision; A Victory in the Continued Fight to Protect the Largest U.S. Port's Green-Growth Model

Click here to read a statement by LA Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports Chair Patricia Castellanos of LANNE

Labor and environmental organizations say that President Obama’s intention to step up enforcement against worker misclassification in the 2011 budget, and CA Attorney-General Jerry Brown’s recent legal judgments against five local port trucking firms that disguised employees as independent contractors underscore the need for sweeping reform to end systematic abuses at America’s ports. (Click here to read more.)

 

Few Oakland Port Drivers Eligible for Funding to Upgrade Trucks to Meet Environmental Regulations.

According to the Oakland Tribune:

"About 1,300 drivers who haul cargo for the Port were denied grant funding for filters and trucks last year when a $22 million fund ran out. Drivers who could not afford to pay for their own equipment were facing unemployment until the state Air Resources Board announced over the New Year's holiday that it had found $11 million to help the rejected grantees buy new trucks or filters.

"According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which is administering the grants for the filter retrofit programs, 742 truckers qualified for $5,000 filter grants and 44 truckers qualified for $50,000 new truck grants, said Lisa Fasano, the district spokeswoman.

"More than 500 truckers who were eligible for the new grant funds never reapplied, but no one knows why..."

 

Environmental, Labor and Church Groups Thank Seattle City Council Members, Letter to Congress Urges Closing Loophole to Protect Public Health and Safety

Seattle, WA - Environmental, labor and church groups are thanking Seattle City Council Members Richard Conlin, Sally Clark, Jean Godden, Nick Licata, Tom Rasmussen, and Mike O'Brien for sending a letter to Congress urging a federal fix to the trucking problems facing the Port of Seattle.  (Click here to read more)

 

A Growing List of Big-City Mayors Calling on Congress Grows Bigger!

The Mayor of Seattle Michael McGinn is the latest to join other port-city mayors around the country, including Mayors Ron Dellums (Oakland), Antonio Villaraigosa (LA), Cory Booker (Newark), Michael Bloomberg (New York), and Stacy Ritter (Broward County, Florida) in supporting changes to outdated federal law so it is clear that ports have the authority to set environmental, labor, and security standards for the port trucking industry.

Unfortunately, the Port of Seattle's CEO has been lobbying to undermine this much-needed legal reform, despite the fact that his Port's Board of Commissioners have not directed him to do so. In fact, the Commission has not taken a position on the issue, calling into question who really directs the port: staff or commissioners? Unfortunately, this question seems to pop up at every port around the country. However, the Port of Oakland is firmly on record supporting our legislative efforts to ensure that 21^st century programs like the EPA-award winning LA Clean Truck Program can be replicated at ports nationwide.

We must not let the industry polluters and lobbyists for the American Trucking Association thwart our efforts protect the environment and public health, reduce security risks and create good middle-class American jobs! 

Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports Making Headlines!

The Contra Costa Times finds 'striking health inequities" for residents living near the Port of Oakland.  According to the article, "In some hardscrabble East Bay neighborhoods, people die of heart disease and cancer at three times the rates found just a few miles away in more well-to-do communities."  According to the article by Sandy Kleffman and Suzanne Bohan entitled In East Bay, where pollution goes, health problems follow "examining asthma rates reveals a stunning pattern. By far, the most hospitalizations occur in low-income communities near the Port of Oakland..."  Read the full article and watch compelling video including profiles of East Bay residents.

A new study entitled Global Goods Movement and the Local Burden of Childhood Asthma in Southern California published in the American Journal of Public Health finds that children closest to harbor trade roadways suffer more respiratory problems.  

 

More of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports in the news! 

National Public Radio, All Things Considered

Activists Union Fight for Cleaner Trucks in Newark

New York Times 

Cleaner-Trucks Mandate Will Create Hardships at Port of Oakland

San Francisco Bay Guardian

Cleaner air for Oakland -- but no one wants to pay for it

E Magazine

When Blue Meets Green How the Labor and Enviornmental Movements are Making Peace

 

California Members of Congress Call for Federal Law Revision to Empower Ports to Enact Environmentally and Economically Sustainable Clean Truck Programs (Click here to read more.)

 

Bay Area Air Quality Management District is the First Air Regulator in the Country to Call on Congress to Update Federal Law to Clean-up Port Air Polution

The Air District joins Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter, the Port of Oakland, the Port of Los Angeles, the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey and many other elected leaders in a growing national effort urging Members of Congress to modernize federal law to ensure that local government entities, such as ports, have the power to set environmental, labor and community standards for the port trucking industry.  (Click here to read more.)

 

Oakland Port Commission Vote Urges Congress to Ensure Ports Have Real Power to Clean Up Diesel Truck Pollution; Improve Security, Safety

Commission Resolution Sends Strong Message: Federal Law Must Be Updated So Trucking Industry Cannot Tie Up Life-saving Environmental Policies in Court (Click here to read more.)

 

Port of Oakland Economic Study Makes Strong Case for Employee-based Trucking System to Solve Chronic Diesel Truck Pollution Problems

Comprehensive Truck Management Program: Economic Impact Analysis, a study prepared by the independent consulting firm Beacon Economics, LLC, that was commissioned by the Port of Oakland strongly favors an employee driver-based Port trucking system to address critical inefficiences, improve port security and meet upcoming air qualiity regulations.  Click here for the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports statement on the study.

 

Broken Port Trucking System Drains More Than $153 a Year From the Economy

The Pacific Institute and East Bay Alliance for a Sustainabilty Economy Taking a Toll: The high cost of health, environmental, and worker impacts of the Oakland Port trucking study reveals alarmingly high cost due to Oakland port truck diesel pollution.

 

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