The introduction of a new bill aimed at giving ports more authority to enact environmental regulations is expanding the battle over the Port of Los Angeles’ controversial employee-only clean trucks plan from the courts to Congress.
Officials with the Los Angeles port and American Trucking Associations are currently awaiting a federal judge’s decision on whether to allow the port to ban independent owner-operators from performing drayage.
In the meantime, Rep. Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.), has introduced a bill that would amend the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act to take away some of the federal government’s exclusive power to regulate interstate trucking.
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 and Safe Ports, a broad 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, but advised opponents to be on guard against to 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.
