In front of a packed crowd at Port of Long Beach headquarters last night, the Board of Harbor Commissioners approved an ordinance (3-1, Cordero dissenting) to amend the Clean Trucks Program that protestors believe restricts the Port’s ability to enforce strict regulations concerning the types of trucks that may operate within the harbor.
The NRDC has appealed an earlier Harbor Board decision and plans to appeal last night’s decision to the Long Beach City Council. Click here for more information on the NRDC appeal.
Students from Banning High School in Wilmington staged a protest (pictured at right) urging the Board not to approve the ordinance.
Environmental groups and independent truckers protested before the meeting began and addressed the Board. The Clean Trucks Program improves air quality by banning pre-1988 trucks and other heavily polluting trucks. Opponents of the ordinance approved last night believe that it will now be more difficult to determine whether trucks are clean or not, because trucks need only have the correct RFID badge in their window to gain access.
RFID badges can be read electronically by gate monitors, who then may easily access information about the truck, who owns it and whether or not it is permitted to operate in the facility.
Port officials maintain that the ordinance does not diminish their power to determine which trucks are allowed to operate, but Harbor Commissioner Mario Cordero opposed the ordinance for that very reason.
Cordero cited his hard-working, immigrant roots and said that he felt for the independent truckers in attendance who explained they were unable to purchase or maintain costly new trucks that are allowed to operate in the Port under strict new environmental guidelines. “Let us not lose sight of who’s driving the trucks,” Cordero said, explaining that he believed the ultimate decision should be left up to the courts.
The three remaining Harbor Commissioners disagreed, explaining that they saw the ordinance’s approval as a step in the direction of environmentalism because the settlement allows the Clean Trucks Program – which has been more successful than predicted in eliminating polluting trucks – to continue unabated. Harbor President Nick Sramek cited his Westside Long Beach roots, and explained that he lost a friend to acute asthma and has been a staunch fighter of Port pollution ever since. “This will allow us to improve and change environmental directives down the road, and that is what the program is about,” said Sramek.
The commissioners heard from 34 public speakers before casting their votes, one of which was David Pettit, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Pettit promised before the vote that should it be approved, the ordinance would be appealed and brought before elected officials – not appointed, as the Harbor Commissioners are – of the Long Beach City Council.
Click here for an exclusive interview with Pettit and an explanation of the NRDC appeal.
It is unclear, however, how exactly that process would work since the Port has the authority to defend itself and settle its own lawsuits without consulting the City Council. The approval of the ordinance finalized a settlement between the Port and the American Trucking Association (ATA) after a lawsuit that had raged on for more than one year.
Port of Long Beach communications officer Art Wong told the lbpost.com that the only Port-related matters that have come before the Council before were concerning Environmental Impact Reports, and that he is unsure how or if the matter will proceed.
Many teachers, parents and students in the community told tales of asthma and other sicknesses that have stricken friends or themselves, and urged the Board to oppose the ordinance in the name of air quality – the feeling being that approving the ordinance will allow the possibility of easier manipulation by trucking companies to bypass the Clean Trucks Program and operate polluting trucks in the harbor.
But commissioners were quick to point out that the very thing those teachers, parents and students were asking for is already occurring, and that – since the ordinance validates the settlement with the ATA and allows the Clean Trucks Program to continue without distraction – a vote for the ordinance was a vote for environmentalism.
Opponents did not agree.
After the vote was approved, the capacity crowd exited the room providing steady “Boo”s, while some who had previously identified themselves as independent truckers – who claimed that the cost was too high to purchase and maintain trucks that were environmentally friendly enough to be approved – hurled insults such as “Corporate whores!” toward the commissioners.
Public speakers who supported the ordinance included Josh Owen of the ATA, Alex Pugh of the Los Angeles Are Chamber of Commerce – “This agreement still has all the teeth in it,” he said – and Lori Lofstrom of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. Lofstrom said that settlement was a wise action for the Port because several million dollars had already been spent in defending the lawsuit. She also applauded the ATA for their environmental efforts and compliance in purchasing new, cleaner trucks.
Disclosure: lbpost.com co-founder Shaun Lumachi is a government affairs advisor to the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.