LONG BEACH, Calif., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the first anniversary of efforts by the Clean Trucks Programs at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Communities for Clean Ports (CCP) praised the vision behind the ports' landmark policies -- and called for new action to create the sustainable fleet of cleanest available trucks driven by employee drivers that is needed to protect Southern Californians' health, fight climate change and spur green job growth.

"The first year of the Clean Trucks Programs marks an important first step, but now we need bold action to transition to a self-sustaining, modern port trucking system that stops sickening people and contributing to climate change -- and that provides a foundation for the green economy of the future," said Communities for Clean Ports Executive Director (and Long Beach mom) Gisele Fong.

On October 1, 2008, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach -- which sit side-by-side and comprise the nation's largest seaport, responsible for 40% of the container cargo entering the United States -- began a progressive ban of the oldest, dirtiest of its 16,000-truck fleet. By the end of 2009, that fleet is expected to have largely been replaced with approximately 9,000 trucks that comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards for Model Year 2007 heavy-duty trucks.

However, more than 90% of the fleet will still be diesel-fueled, instead of the alternative-fueled trucks that are the cleanest available -- and that reduce toxic, smog-forming Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) by an additional 83%, greenhouse gases by an additional 20%, and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

And the port drayage system remains reliant on the same, broken economic model -- using low-paid, misleadingly named "independent owner operators" instead of employee drivers working for well-capitalized trucking companies -- that led to the problem the Clean Trucks Program was created to fix.

"You can't build a low carbon, green economy by relying on dirty diesel trucks and drivers making $10-an-hour that's supposed to cover everything from truck maintenance to feeding their families," said CCP Campaign Director Ryan Wiggins. "Unless you shift this burden from low-paid drivers to well-capitalized trucking companies, then in a few short years the port drayage fleet will be as dirty, polluting, and diesel-dependent as ever -- and the $1 billion in public and private capital being spent to renew the fleet now will have largely gone to waste."

The Port of L.A. Clean Trucks Program holds the promise of removing the burden from these drivers and the local communities and California taxpayers who have been footing the bill for the goods movement industry's toxic pollution for decades -- and the smog, cancer, lung disease, childhood asthma and other health problems it leads to. This program is the direct result of public demands for their right to clean air and good green jobs.

Unfortunately, industry groups are once again trying to block the program in the name of adding a few dollars to their bottom line. To enact programs that create long-term sustainable solutions to pollution and put port communities and regions firmly on the road towards a low-carbon clean energy economy, ports must be able to set and enforce high and comprehensive standards. We urge Congress to give ports in California and across the country the right to pursue these goals.

About Communities for Clean Ports

Communities for Clean Ports (CCP) is non-partisan, and focuses on public education to maximize effective public support for policies that are consistent with our mission of significantly and immediately reducing port pollution. Ending port pollution -- and the unjustifiable health and economic tax it levies on innocent working people in port communities -- is a moral imperative. Cleaner technologies, equipment and alternative fuels are affordable, viable and available -- and would immediately and drastically reduce Port Pollution Poisoning. For more information, please visit www.CleanPorts.org or contact Ryan Wiggins, (323) 474 - 4650.

SOURCE Communities for Clean Ports

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