SoCal ports pre-1993 truck ban looms

SoCal ports pre-1993 truck ban looms    The Port of Long Beach said Tuesday a deadline looms for pre-1993 trucks operating in the port.
   As of Jan. 1, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will not allow such trucks to enter container terminals under the ports' respective clean air plans. The port will also bar trucks made between 1994 and 2003 that haven't been retrofitted to significantly cut down on emissions.
   It's the second key milestone for the truck program, with pre-1988 trucks banned as of Jan. 1, 2008. The next milestone is 2012, when the port will ban trucks made prior to 2007, when more stringent federal emissions standards came into effect.
   The port said 8,000 trucks operating in the ports before the clean air plan was approved will now be banned, and that 5,600 new trucks are operating thanks to schemes to replace the older models (with another 2,400 on order). By January, the port said 90 percent of trucks will meet the 2007 standard, while 80 percent of air emissions from trucks have been eliminated two years ahead of schedule.
   'A small number of trucks that do not meet the Jan. 1, 2010, standard will have an extra four months to work at the port — but only if the owner is awaiting a new truck through a port or state financing program,' the port said.
   Meanwhile, in Long Beach Thomas Fields has been named as a new harbor commissioner, replacing James Hankla, who retired in the summer. Fields, who founded and owns a marketing and advertising agency, has served on the city's redevelopment agency and planning commission boards.