Judge orders Long Beach truck study

Judge orders Long Beach truck study    A federal judge has ruled that the Port of Long Beach erred in 2009 when it modified without study its clean trucks program as part of a settlement with the American Trucking Associations.
   The court ordered the port to conduct such a study and report next week a time frame in which to perform the study.
   The failure to conduct an initial environmental study before the settlement, which modified the port’s clean trucks program, was a violation of the California Environmental Quality Act, according to Judge Christina A. Snyder of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
   Plaintiffs, which included the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), argued the settlement weakened the program, claiming the “air in Long Beach will be more polluted as a direct result of Long Beach's agreement with ATA to replace a tough truck maintenance rule with a soft one.”
   Requiring drayage companies only to register with the port rather than obtain a concession to work there, give the port “little, if any, ability” to hold trucking companies accountable for environmental, safety and security standards. For example, it said unlike the concession agreement, the registration agreement does not require trucking companies to prepare maintenance plans or allow the port to inspect any maintenance records.
   'Nothing about the port's agreement with the American Trucking Associations was made with the public's health in mind,' said David Pettit, director of NRDC's Southern California Clean Air Program. 'The agreement was a big giveaway to industry in hopes that ATA would drop their litigation against the port, and when they did, so did the port's commitment to a sustainable clean truck program and cleaner air for port residents.'
   But Port of Long Beach Executive Director Richard D. Steinke said the ports’ clean trucks program “has been a major environmental success, reducing truck pollution by 80 percent so far.
   “We've replaced thousands of older trucks with new, cleaner models. In just six months the program will hit its final deadline, and 100 percent of the trucks serving the port will meet stringent environmental standards. At that point truck pollution will be cut by 90 percent from 2008 levels,”
   “We continue to stand behind this successful program, both in the air-quality results and the process by which that success was achieved,” he said.
   The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is considering arguments made in June in a lawsuit by the ATA against the clean truck program in the neighboring Port of Los Angeles. ' Chris Dupin