A community group has launched a grassroots campaign to generate support for a clean-air plan at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that has come under fire from business and trade groups across the nation.

Communities for Clean Ports has sent out more than 10,000 direct mail fliers urging residents of San Pedro and surrounding neighborhoods to attend a port-sponsored meeting on Friday and show support for the plan, said Joel Bush, interim executive director for the group.

The so-called Clean Trucks Program would sharply reduce port related pollution by replacing an aging fleet of 16,000 short-haul diesel trucks that serve the ports with trucks meeting 2007 emission standards perhaps a third of which would burn natural gas.

But the program has drawn sharp criticism from the trucking industry over its requirement that drivers, most of whom are independent contractors, become motor carrier employees. The industry contends that the requirement, along with a proposed gate fee, would drive up costs and force many motor carriers out of business.

In the past week, a collation of business groups sent a letter to city and port officials opposing the program, saying the ports do not have the legal authority to impose fees proposed in the plan.

The letter was signed by more than 30 groups, including the National Retail Federation, the California Chamber of Commerce and the American Association of Exporters & Importers.

The missive follows similar letters of opposition written in the past few weeks by the American Trucking Association, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and the National Industrial Transportation League to the Federal Maritime Commission.