Harbor Commission to ask Congress to let ports set trucking standards

According to the American Trucking Associations, the unions are asking the commission to vote to ask Congress to change federal transportation law “to effectively nullify the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision and the federal law that protects motor carriers, shippers and consumers from unnecessary and costly state and local regulations.”

The Trucker Staff

7/28/2009

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland, Calif., Harbor Commission last week gave its initial approval of a resolution urging Congress to update transportation policy “to clearly state that ports have the authority to set and enforce trucking industry standards,” according to an E&E Publishing report. The commission is expected on July 30 to approve a final resolution.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals and a U.S. District Court ruled earlier this year that banning owner-operators from ports likely violates federal law, rejecting the Port of Los Angeles’s claim that a ban was needed to help it achieve its environmental and safety goals,” noted Clayton Boyce, ATA vice president of public affairs and press secretary, adding that at the port’s “ … clean air efforts are far ahead of schedule even though the L.A. ban on owner-operators has been enjoined.”

The E&E report further stated that “advocacy coalitions in major port cities are pressing Congress to give local officials clear authority to ramp up regulations to curb air pollution from old, dirty diesel trucks” and that “broad coalitions of environmental, public health, labor and environmental justice groups … are hoping to enact new standards” but the localities “want assurances that they have the legal authority to do so.”

The report went on to say that the Los Angeles Port’s Clean Trucks program is “mired in a court battle between the American Trucking Associations and the California port over whether the port has the right to bar independent owner-operators as they attempt to curtail pollution.”

So, ATA once again finds itself in the position of defending its efforts to get the owner-operator ban removed at the Port of L.A. and clarifying and re-stating its position of being in favor of port efforts to institute cleaner, less polluting trucks.

In other port news, terminal operators at the Port of New Orleans have announced plans to cut the hours that they’re open for business because of the economy, according to a story filed by the The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.

The paper reported that the New Orleans Terminal will cut two hours out of its daily operating schedule while the Ports America Terminal will cut 10 hours out of every week.

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The Trucker staff may be reached to comment at editor@thetrucker.com.