This week, the Federal Maritime Commission decided to file a motion to withdraw its lawsuit against the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's two busiest ports.  Reversing, the Bush-era decision to thwart efforts by these ports to clean up the decrepit trucks that roam the harbor area and cause immense impacts to the health of residents was a great idea.  I assume it was the leadership of Joseph Brennan that made this happen -- he originally dissented from the decision to throw roadblocks in front of the ports to stop them from cleaning the air in the first place. Chairman Brennan, stated it well: "While today's action remains subject to approval of the U.S. District Court, I am gratified that we have taken this step to clear the path for the Ports' Clean Trucks Programs."  I assume it also helped that Judge Leon gave them a pretty rough thumping in denying the Maritime Commission's attempts to preliminarily stop the ports from implementing key portions of their clean truck programs.

Chairman Brennan was also probably concerned about the lawsuit because the Commission made a decision to intervene against the clean truck programs without complying with several federal environmental laws.  Therefore, the Commission acted in an uninformed manner of the environmental consequences of its actions.  Earlier this year, NRDC, Sierra Club, and the Coalition for Clean Air called the Commission on this and filed suit in District Court in California.  If Judge Leon grants the Commission's motion, a large part of our lawsuit will go away.  However, there is one piece remaining.    

The FMC still has an investigatory proceeding that could force the Ports to "cease and desist" from implementing an agreement that sets a framework for cleaning up harbor area pollution.  We hope the Commission will make the wise decision to stop this investigatory proceeding as well because it solely serves as an attempt to divert attention from where it should be placed -- namely cleaning up the filthy air in harbor area.  At a minimum, if the investigation goes forward, the FMC should comply with federal environmental laws.