FMC’s Brennan dissents on SoCal ports truck program vote

FMCÆs Brennan dissents on SoCal ports truck program vote Federal Maritime Commissioner Joseph Brennan, the lone dissenter in the panel's 2-1 vote Wednesday to seek an injunction against portions of the Southern California ports' truck re-regulation program, called the FMC's vote 'a colossal mistake.'

Brennan

   In a statement issued Thursday, Brennan said he believes the commission should defer to the policy judgments of some three-dozen elected officials of California who have supported the implementation of the truck program by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
   He said the ports' truck program 'fairly falls within the broad definition of 'reasonable,' ' under the Shipping Act of 1984.
   'Under these circumstances, the commission majority has no basis for forcing the Port of Los Angeles to adopt an alternative port-management model that individual commissioners happen to think is reasonable,' he said.
   Brennan has opposed much of the current action taken by the FMC against the two neighboring ports, including an investigation by the agency into possible violations of the Shipping Act by the truck program that led to Wednesday's commission vote.
   The split decision launched the FMC squarely into the legal fray over the truck program, which also includes a federal District Court suit against the ports over the program by the American Trucking Associations, the U.S. departments of Justice and Transportation, and several other industry trade groups.
   The FMC is expected to file its request for an injunction against portions of the truck program sometime Friday in the federal District Court in the District of Columbia.
   The ports' truck program, launched Oct. 1, seeks to cut ports-generated diesel pollution by replacing the trucks in the local drayage fleet with 2007 and newer models within five years. A component of the program requires motor carriers to obtain so-called 'concession agreements' from the ports to maintain access to the ports' privately run terminals.
   In its decision on Wednesday, the FMC said it believes the 'concession agreements' and several other items within the program will lead to anticompetitiveness within the port trucking industry, and is thus a violation of the Shipping Act which the FMC is charged with overseeing.
   The FMC does not seek to shut down the truck program, but said it would ask the court to 'surgically remove' certain portions of the program.
   Brennan said he believes the two ports' truck program will benefit the local community and provide a better work environment for the truck drivers.
   First appointed to the FMC by the Clinton administration and reappointed in 2004 by George W. Bush, Brennan is a former governor of and congressman from the state of Maine.