Bloomberg and Booker Agree: We Need Cleaner Trucks at our Ports

Yesterday, NYC Mayor Michael P. Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker teamed up with Teamsters President James P. Hoffa to endorse federal legislation that would enable ports around the nation to adopt local green-growth programs to reduce air pollution and improve labor conditions in their midst.  NRDC has been working with the Teamsters, the Change-to-Win labor coalition, environmental justice leaders and others to advance this legislation, and here's why:

Our nation's ports bring us the things we want and need, when and where we want them.  But our ports are among the nation's most serious diesel "hotspots"-places where trucks, equipment, and ships all congregate, spewing huge quantities of diesel exhaust into the air. 

And, because of the economics of the local trucking industry that serves the ports, most of these trucks are older and dirtier than the cleaner models that meet current EPA standards for new trucks.   

For example, according to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey data, roughly 16 percent of the frequent callers at the marine terminals in New York Harbor are more than fifteen years old (and therefore predate EPA regulations that require pollution filters), and only 3 percent of these trucks have engines that are certified to meet EPA's current standards.  That's the unfortunate reality of a goods movement system that drives costs down and down without regard for any unwanted side effects.

This issue is a growing environmental justice concern.  From Los Angeles to Red Hook, Brooklyn and the Ironbound district of Newark, our large ports are surrounded by low-income communities and communities of color who suffer the disproportionate burden of all of these dirty trucks.

My colleague, Melissa Lin Perrella, recently wrote about the one-year anniversary of the Clean Truck Program in Los Angeles.   Read the whole post if you can, but if you are in a hurry, here's the gist of it: 

By banning the oldest trucks outright, and incentivizing the purchase of newer, cleaner vehicles, Los Angeles officials have removed 2,000 of the oldest, dirtiest trucks from service and have helped their local businesses put nearly 6,000 clean-burning and alternative fuel trucks on the road.  In just a year, this program has removed as much pollution as taking 200,000 cars off the road.  Plus, in a year when national truck sales are down 60 percent, they are up by one-third in LA.

Unfortunately, this program is being challenged by a Virginia-based trucking lobby that has been fighting the program since the start.  They are arguing that federal law prevents ports from conditioning port access on meeting safety, environment, and security-based requirements.

We're asking Congress to remove any doubt that ports can enact solutions that compliment green business growth and protect public health.  If we're successful, truck clean-up programs will be easier to install at ports around the country, including here in the NY/NJ region. 

And, that will mean cleaner communities, improved public health, better working conditions, and a stronger local trucking industry in the long run. 

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