Contact: Barb Maynard, 323-351-9321 or Jania Palacios, 520-404-7643
http://blog.cleanandsafeports.org/
http://www.cleanandsafeports.org/
In today’s Long Beach Press-Telegram, the American Trucking Association confirmed that it is preparing to file lawsuits against the Port of Long Beach’s Clean Trucks Program as well as against the sustainable, comprehensive plan passed by the Port of Los Angeles. In response, the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports released the following statement from a representative of one of CCSP’s over 30 member organizations, Gisele Fong of Communities for Clean Ports, who is also a Long Beach mother:
R20;If a port demands this industry starts paying for its own pollution, then the industry sues – because they’re only concerned with making a killing off of goods movement, not cleaning up the deadly toxic air they create.
R20;This proves that the so-called R16;laborR17; issue has always been a red herring to obscure the trucking industry’s real position – they’ll fight tooth and nail to protect their decades-long practice of padding profits by forcing Californians to sacrifice their health and spend their tax-dollars to pay for the industry’s toxic mess.
R20;Southern Californian consumers are literally dying for clean air – not for a pair of sneakers that cost a nickel less. I should know: I’m a mother of two and longtime Long Beach resident, and I am sick and tired of big industry polluters putting my family at risk because they won’t pay to clean up their own pollution.
R20;The American Trucking AssociationR17;s obstructionism demonstrates we cannot settle for anything less than the cleanest-available trucks driven by a stable, employee workforce. That is why public health, environmental and community groups overwhelmingly supported the Port of Los Angeles’s Clean Trucks Program. The LA Harbor Commission, Mayor Villaraigosa and other LA elected officials deserve thanks from all of Southern California for passing a comprehensive, sustainable model that city and independent attorneys agree is legally sound.
R20;Unfortunately, the Port of Long Beach let the industry off the hook earlier this year out of fear of a courtroom battle. Harbor commissioners instead opted to require that individual, underpaid workers who serve the drayage industry buy and maintain a low-emission fleet, but the ATA will even sue to protest the watered-down clean trucks program they purportedly had urged officials to pass.
R20;This is an opportunity for Mayor Foster to finally give the people of Long Beach a comprehensive, sustainable Clean Trucks Program. Long Beach deserves a plan that will make legitimate trucking companies responsible for turnover to – and permanent upkeep of – new clean-technology vehicles to sustain environmental clean-up in the long term. ItR17;s the only way to protect children and all of Southern California from toxic diesel emissions.
R20;The LA and Long Beach Ports must meet dramatic emissions-reduction goals and promote an aggressive green-growth strategy in order to complete much needed expansion projects to accommodate exploding trade demand. At a cost of just 7 cents on a pair of sneakers, the asset-based employee driver Clean Trucks Program works for business, community, environmentalists and moms like me alike.
R20;The legal contests by the ATA amounts to nothing more than a political filibuster, which could result in unnecessary delays in implementing critical clean air programs. It is unacceptable to place profit and politics above people’s health.”
The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is working to ensure that a transition to a mature, asset-based employee system is legally upheld at our nation’s busiest trade complex, and works in tandem with an aggressive ban on old, dirty trucks that begins on Oct 1.
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For more information: http://www.cleanandsafeports.org/ • The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports includes:
American Lung Association of California R26; Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) R26; Coalition for Clean Air R26; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles R26; Coalition for a Safe Environment R26; Communities for a Better Environment R26; Communities for Clean Ports R26; East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice R26; Engineers and Architects Association R26; Harbor Watts Economic Development Corporation R26; Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana R26; Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma R26; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy R26; Los Angeles/Long Beach Labor Coalition R26; Mexican American Political Association R26; Natural Resources Defense Council R26; Physicians for Social Responsibility R26; Progressive Christians Uniting R26; San Pedro Democratic Club R26; Sierra Club Harbor Vision Taskforce R26; Change to Win R26; L.A. County Federation of Labor R26; UNITE HERE Local 11 R26; UNITE HERE Local 681 R26; IAM Lodge 1484 R26; IBEW Local 11 R26; IBT Joint Council 42 R26; IBT Local 63 R26; IBT Local 495 R26; IBT Local 630 R26; Local 848 R26; IBT Local 952 R26; SEIU Local 1877 R26; Southern California Council of Laborers