Press Release

Cleaner Trucks Ready For Port Truckers, But Who Has the Keys?

(Sept. 26, 2007) - Cleaner running trucks are warehoused in Montebello, while dirty ones fill Washington Boulevard and nearby freeways. Community activists and port truck drivers want to know why. The cleaner trucks, which run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), are sitting idle while neighborhoods across the Southland must endure toxic diesel fumes.

Each year that California fails to address the pollution from our local ports and freight transport system, Californians suffer asthma attacks, missed school days, lost wages, illness, and in the worst cases, premature death.

Diesel trucks are one of the major sources of this pollution, and 16,000 work at the ports, spewing toxic fumes across the Southland. Last November, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach approved a Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) that included eliminating all dirty diesel trucks from the cargo terminals within five years. The two ports are also working on a clean trucks program that promises to cut pollution from harbor trucks by 80%. But an expected vote on Sept. 28 was postponed without a new date.

"The ports have stalled this truck program again," said Martin Schlageter, Coalition for Clean Air's Campaign and Advocacy Director. "When are they going to give it the green light?"

Southern California ports are the gateway for billions of dollars worth of imports that land on store shelves all across the country, but residents here have subsidized this international trade with their lives and lungs. Californians can no longer afford to bear more of this burden.

"Living in the literal intersection of goods movement, our communities have every right to cleaner trucks as a step towards a healthier tomorrow," said Huntington Park resident Isella Ramirez, a member of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.

. According to the state air board, 2,400 Californians die prematurely each year from this deadly diesel port and freight transport pollution.

The sooner the clean truck plan gets approved - and the quicker the Clean Air Action Plan gets implemented - the faster dirty trucks will be taken off the road.

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For more than 35 years, the non-profit Coalition for Clean Air has been committed to restoring clean air to California. With offices in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Fresno, it is dedicated to strengthening the environmental movement by promoting broad-based community involvement, advocating responsible public policy and providing technical expertise.

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