Court Rules Against Port of Long Beach’s Clean Trucks Plan
A federal district court judge has ruled that the Port of Long Beach violated California environmental law when it altered its clean trucks program without first performing a required environmental review, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.
U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council that said the port’s action violated the California Environmental Quality Act, the Press-Telegram reported.
NRDC argued that a settlement agreement reached in October 2009 between American Trucking Associations and the Port of Long Beach weakened the clean trucks program by not requiring environmental analysis under the CEQA, the group said on its website.
ATA Chief Counsel Robert Digges Jr. said Snyder’s order “is more procedural than anything else. The bottom line is that this judge has approved the registration agreement that will remain in place.”
Snyder has also been involved in the ongoing clean trucks program at the neighboring Port of Los Angeles, over that port’s attempted ban on independent owner-operators.
That ban is opposed by ATA, which earlier this year asked an appeals court to reverse Snyder’s September decision that the port had the right to ban independent operators.
