{"id":6024,"date":"2008-07-18T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-18T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/port-trucking-keyword-uncertainty\/"},"modified":"2008-07-18T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-18T15:00:00","slug":"port-trucking-keyword-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/port-trucking-keyword-uncertainty","title":{"rendered":"Port Trucking Keyword:  Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div style='float:left;padding-right:10px;padding-bottom:5px;'><img src='images\/archive\/photo27605.jpg' align='left' \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">I&rsquo;m holding my breath &ndash; though I probably shouldn&rsquo;t &ndash; to see what will happen with our ports&rsquo; efforts to reduce truck pollution.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The ability of the ports to implement their plans by the planned October 1 start date is still very much in doubt.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The trucking industry&rsquo;s lawsuit is still expected soon, and may well go against both ports, not just Los Angeles with its employee-driver requirement.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>And the Federal Maritime Commission could still call a halt to the ports&rsquo; efforts if it decides the programs will restrict competition.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>I can only hope &ndash; as my face turns bright blue &ndash; that the bureaucrats, attorneys, and judges make their evaluations and decisions quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">Uncertainty notwithstanding, there have been some new developments.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The Port of Long Beach has pre-ordered 300 new clean-fuel trucks &ndash; 200 low-emission diesels and 100 fueled by liquefied natural gas &ndash; so that they will be ready to replace pre-1989 trucks that will be banned starting October 1.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The port has also chosen a company to provide financing for the purchase of new clean trucks, and, along with the Port of Los Angeles, is letting a sizeable contract to a firm that will manage the truck concession and grants programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">The City Council has voted to undertake a study session to examine the Long Beach port&rsquo;s plan to offer financing to individual truck owner-operators.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Some councilmembers are concerned that individuals might default on these large loans, and believe trucking companies &ndash; who will be the only recipients of loans from the Port of Los Angeles &ndash; would be less likely to do so.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cunninghamreport.com\/\"><font color=\"#800080\">Cunningham Report<\/font><\/a>, however, City Attorney Bob Shannon cautioned the Council that the Harbor Commission has the final say on this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\">I am very grateful to Mayor Foster for making himself available to us Long Beach Posters this week.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>One of my questions got an answer that particularly pleased me.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>I asked whether he thought this region could ever implement a &ldquo;zero-emissions&rdquo; container movement system (whatever the technology might be).<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>He responded that we should &ldquo;start today&rdquo; to envision and implement such a system.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>I was so glad to hear this can-do response, in refreshing contrast to the many naysayers I&rsquo;ve encountered on this point.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>In rail and truck, we do have functional technologies today, but their environmental and health impacts are making capacity increases politically difficult.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>We will always need technologies that perform these functions, but our collective challenge is to find clean, cleaner, even cleanest alternatives.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>I&rsquo;m glad at least one local leader is ready and willing to have that discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';\"><br \/><\/span><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6024"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=6024"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}