FMC plaudit to Port of Los Angeles

FMC plaudit to Port of Los Angeles

Lidinsky

   U.S. Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard A. Lidinsky Jr. awarded the Port of Los Angeles his first “Chairman’s Earth Day Award” for innovation and environmental leadership in developing and implementing its Clean Truck Program.
   The award came as the port and the American Trucking Association sparred in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles this week over the legality of proposed elements in the port’s clean truck program that would restrict operations by owner-operators. Last year the ATA was successful in getting that provision and several others temporarily enjoined.
   This is the first of what's to be an annual award by the FMC chairman for the nation’s top leaders on environmental issues in the ocean shipping industry.

Knatz

   Lidinsky has said one of his top priorities is “advancing the Obama administration’s goals of creating green jobs and seeking a more sustainable approach to maritime issues.”
   “Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, and their team have shown real leadership in developing a Clean Truck program that, as the centerpiece of the Port’s Clean Air Action Plan, combines incentives with accountability to make our nation’s busiest liner shipping port complex more sustainable,” Lidinsky said.
   He noted that in the first year since the Clean Truck Program began operating in October 2008, it reduced truck emissions at the Port of Los Angeles by 70 percent.