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Issues: U.S. Law and Policy

Under New Leadership, Federal Maritime Commission Backs Down—Another Cavil Hurdle Displaced on the Road to Clean Air at the Ports of LA and Long Beach

June 18, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanair, cleantrucks, cleantrucksprogram, federalmaritimecommission, portoflongbeach, portoflosangeles, portpollution, ports

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...

The Federal Maritime Commission Needs A Lesson In Transparency

May 19, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
federalmaritimecommission, freedomofinformationact, publichealth

Back in October, the NRDC filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Federal Maritime Commission related to the agency's review of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach's Clean Trucks Programs.  Specifically, NRDC was interested in...

Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law

April 3, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, cleanair, cleanairact, southcoastairqualitymanagementdistrict

I suppose the Governing Board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) was listening to the Judas Priest song, Breaking the Law, this morning before it held its public hearing on Proposed Rule 317.  SCAQMD is one of...

Another Ozone Study Confirms that the Continued War on Smog is Worth the Effort

March 12, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, naaqs, ozone, smog

In the era of global warming, plain vanilla air pollution -- like smog -- sometimes gets pushed to the side.  Some people may consider it the less popular sister of the homecoming queen (CO2). However, this does not diminish the...

A Failure of Asthmatic Proportions: Port Fuel Program Not Cutting the Mustard

March 9, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
bunkerfuel, diesel, dieselpollution, marinevessels, portoflongbeach, portoflosangeles, portpollution, ports, shippingindustry, shippollution

Today, the Engineering and Environmental Committee of the Board of Harbor Commissioners for the Port of Long Beach heard an amendment to provide more money to shippers to clean up the filthy fuel these ships currently burn.  The Committee pushed sweetening this...

Warm Welcome for the Clean Truck Fee at the Ports

February 19, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanair, cleanairactionplan, cleantruckfee, cleantrucks, cleantrucksprogram, containerfee, diesel, dieselpollution, portoflongbeach, portoflosangeles, portpollution

After years of waiting, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach started collecting a container fee to fund cleaner trucks yesterday.   To the best of my knowledge, the ports are still operating, and the sky has not fallen as some doomsday...

Are LA’s Transportation Planners Living in a Fairy Tale Land?

February 4, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, freewaypollution, highwaypollution, highways, I-710, nationalambientairqualitystandards, particulatematter, portpollution, ports, publichealth, southerncaliforniaassociationofgovernments, transportationbill, transportationpolicy

I attended the Project Committee meeting for the I-710 project last week.  This Committee directs how the future expansion project for the I-710 should proceed.  For those of you not familiar with Southern California traffic, but have heard the horror...

Speed Bumps for Clean Trucks Program At Port of Los Angeles

January 27, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanair, cleanairactionplan, cleantrucks, cleantrucksprogram, federalmaritimecommission, portoflongbeach, portoflosangeles, portpollution, ports

Ron White from the Los Angeles Times wrote an interesting article today about the Clean Trucks Program.  The article examines the hurdles that have been placed in front of the Port of Los Angeles in implementing its landmark program to...

Is the Seventh Time a Charm? Federal Maritime Commission Will Decide Whether to Place Industry Profits Over the Lives of Angelinos

January 21, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, cleanairactionplan, cleantrucks, cleantrucksprogram, diesel, dieselpollution, federalmaritimecommission, portoflongbeach, portoflosangeles, portpollution, ports

The opaque halls of the Federal Maritime Commission will be active in February when it must decide whether to continue its path of obstructionism and block the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from collecting a clean truck fee, virtually crippling...

Industry Lawsuit Threatens Our Health

January 8, 2009

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
ARTBA, cleanairact, diesel, EPA, NOx, shippollution

On Wednesday, the NRDC filed a motion asking the federal appeals court in D.C. to allow it to participate in a case examining whether state and local governments can protect residents from deadly air pollution produced by off-road engines (e.g. construction equipment,...

Building a Regional Movement One Container At A Time

December 24, 2008

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
coalitionbuilding, marthamatsuoka, regionalcoalitions

Professor Martha Matsuoka from Occidental College published a very interesting article in Race, Poverty, & the Environment (a project of: Urban Habitat) about the clean and safe ports campaign and the building of regional power "to redefin[e] regional development, [develop] regional...

Boondoggles or Blue Chips—How We Should Invest Transportation Dollars

December 18, 2008

Posted by Adrian Martinez in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
freewaypollution, transportationbill, transportationpolicy

I had the pleasure to attend a meeting in New York last week sponsored by the Regional Plan Association related to the upcoming federal transportation reauthorization bill.  The meeting was designed to examine what America's transportation system should look like in...

Adrian Martinez
Adrian Martinez
Project Attorney, Southern California Air Team
Santa Monica
I grew up in eastern North Carolina.  I’d say my introduction to environmentalism actually happened...
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