ATA president defends clash with LA ports

ATA president defends clash with LA ports    American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves came to Los Angeles last week and declared that his organization will continue to oppose the effort of the two local ports to implement a clean air initiative by regulating motor carrier services normally under federal jurisdiction.
   The nation's largest and most influential trucking group is challenging in court the decision by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to require employee-only trucking companies to enter port premises as part of its plan to license companies with cleaner-burning diesel engines.
   Speaking to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Graves said interstate trucking depends on uniform national regulations and that the Supreme Court has upheld the concept of federal pre-emption to prevent states and localities from creating a patchwork of rules that would impact business and consumers.
   He reiterated the ATA's agreement with the ports’ environmental goals, but said it would 'vigorously defend' motor carriers' rights to offer rates, routes and services free of local government interference.
   'If LA and Long Beach have environmental standards they expect motor carriers to meet in order to do business in the ports we would suggest that you simply post those requirements at the front gate and let the free market [determine] who gets the job of moving commerce in and out of those ports,' he said.
   He rattled off more than a dozen regulations in California that affect trucking and make it increasingly costly to do business in the state. ' Eric Kulisch