Long Beach Port Officials to Vote Tuesday on Emissions Plan

A plan by the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on how to address truck emissions and hire drivers is causing divisions with the adjacent Port of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Long Beach port officials are set to vote Tuesday on a plan to cut truck-related emissions but that that would allow trucking companies to use employee drivers, independent contractor drivers or a combination of the two, the Times reported.

That plan has disappointed environmentalists and Port of Los Angeles port officials, as officials at the two ports have differing views on how to treat the 16,500 truckers serving the busiest U.S. port complex, the paper said.

Environmentalists and the Teamsters union wanted Long Beach to compel trucking and shipping compa-nies to hire the truckers, while the burden of owning, operating and maintaining fleets of cleaner trucks would fall to trucking companies, the Times reported.

Los Angeles port officials have expressed interest in having trucking companies hire the independent truckers — an option which has the backing of the Teamsters and environmental groups, but which Long Beach has rejected, the Times said.

Less-controversial elements of Long Beach’s plan would require trucking firms to register their drivers with the port and tag trucks with radio-frequency identification devices so authorities could monitor com-pliance for security, maintenance and insurance requirements, the Times reported.

It would also establish a $2 billion financing plan with three options to help truckers acquire cleaner trucks, which would include lease agreements, grants for an engine retrofit and grants top finance up to 80% of a truck’s cost.