Bill Would Let Ports Set Rules on Environmental Standards

This story appears in the Aug. 9 print edition of Transport Topics.

New legislation aimed at giving ports more authority to set environmental regulations is expanding the battle over the Port of Los Angeles’ controversial employees-only clean trucks plan from the courts to Congress.

Officials with the port and American Trucking Associations are currently awaiting a federal judge’s decision on whether to allow Los Angeles to ban independent owner-operators from performing drayage.

In the meantime, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has introduced a bill that would amend the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act to reduce some of the federal government’s exclusive power to regulate interstate trucking (8-2, p. 2; click here for story).

The bill, less than two pages in length, would give ports the right to enact and enforce their own diesel emissions reduction plans, including regulations that go beyond current federal requirements.

The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, an alliance of environmentalists, said the legislation would “accelerate the speed and success of clean fleet turnover plans at U.S. seaports, lower public health costs for taxpayers, and help America’s truck drivers re-enter the ranks of the middle class.”

But Curtis Whalen, executive director of ATA’s Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference, said he does not believe there is a “groundswell of support” for Nadler’s bill. However, he advised opponents to be on guard against deals cut “in the dark of night” to bring the bill to a vote.

“The vast majority of those engaged in the intermodal transport process are very much against what the Teamsters are trying to say is absolutely needed,” Whalen said.

The Teamsters union is supporting Nadler’s bill.

An ATA spokesman said the legislation is not essential for ports to reduce diesel emissions.

“The tremendous environmental progress at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach shows that there’s no need to pass a bill like this,” said ATA’s Brandon Borgna. “While operating under current federal regulations, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have reduced air emissions by 80%, a full two years ahead of schedule.”

Nadler said ports around the country have been unable to implement a comprehensive program “given the legal uncertainty and injunction against the program in Los Angeles.”

“This change to federal law would confirm that port cities like Los Angeles, New York, Newark [N.J.], Oakland [Calif.] and Seattle have the authority to set the standards needed to replace diesel trucks with clean diesel and alternative energy vehicles in order to reduce pollution in a manner that has negligible effect on consumer prices, lowers public health costs for taxpayers and does not unfairly burden the workers who haul cargo to and from U.S. seaports,” Nadler said in a July 29 statement.

Whalen said the bill would make it possible for unions to organize drayage drivers.

“Federal preemption is a very effective barrier to the Teamsters’ unionization efforts,” Whalen said. “But if they become employees, then it’s a wide-open door to go try to organize them.”

ATA is part of the Clean and Sustainable Transportation Coalition, a group of exporters, importers, logistics industries and service providers that oppose Nadler’s bill.

“If enacted, this bill could unfairly force out of the industry many hard-working small businesses responsible for moving much of the nation’s international commerce,” the coalition said in a statement.

“If successful, this effort will not improve air quality or security at our nation’s ports. But it will result in a return to fragmented and patchwork regulations over foreign and interstate commerce, contrary to the U.S. Constitution, acts of Congress, and common sense,” the coalition’s statement said.

Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, said that port officials could not comment on the legislation because of the pending litigation.

Sanfield said the port already has a successful clean trucks program in operation and has not required drivers to be employees to comply with a preliminary injunction issued by the federal judge expected to rule soon in the ATA litigation.

“Until that decision is announced, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to take a position on pending legislation that could potentially impact our program,” Sanfield said.