Jose Cardenas thought he was going to have to close down his small Compton trucking firm because he couldn’t meet all the requirements of the Port of Los Angeles’ anti-pollution program.

Last week, Cardenas and other small trucking companies serving the massive port complex breathed a sigh of relief.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction halting various provisions of the Clean Truck Program, including a requirement trucking companies consider the most burdensome: that they hire drivers rather than use contracted drivers or owner-operators.

“I can’t afford to hire employees so I certainly thought I would be shutting my doors by Christmas,” Cardenas said. “I think we have to clean up the ports, but it’s not possible for me to follow all their regulations.”

Closure of Cardenas’ Lincoln Transportation Services Inc. would have been ironic considering that he has taken out millions in loans to buy 40 new clean diesel rigs, the kind that the ports are relying on to clean up the air.

Relief came last week due to an American Trucking Association lawsuit filed last year against both the L.A. and Long Beach ports. Both of their clean truck programs require trucking companies to sign concession agreements to service the ports, though only the L.A. concession required employee drivers.

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder’s ruling last week was a mixed bag for both the ATA and the ports. Seven provisions of the concession agreements were blocked, such as requiring registration fees and L.A.’s employee-driver provision; but eight others were allowed to stand, including requiring each trucking company to register to do business.

A trial will be held to determine whether the preliminary injunction will be dropped or converted into a permanent order. The ATA is expected to seek to overturn the entire concession agreement, though it does not oppose the ports’ plans to clean up the air by gradually banning older trucks that don’t meet 2007 federal environmental standards. Some 16,000 trucks serve the ports, not counting long-haul interstate rigs not covered by the ban.

As a result, even if the independent owner-operators truckers who own their rigs are allowed to continue serving the port, some believe that their days are numbered.

“Now, I think independent truckers are thinking whether they are going to buy a clean truck and stay in the industry, try to retrofit their truck with clean diesel filters or maybe get out of the business altogether when the truck bans hit them,” said Steve Straub, chief financial officer of Price Transfer Inc.

The Rancho Dominguez trucking firm has hired 24 employee drivers for the clean trucks it purchased, but still relies on 30 owner-operators.

Meanwhile, with the injunction in place until the lawsuit goes to trial in December, Cardenas said he will turn his attention back to building up his fleet of clean diesel trucks. He said he’d like to contract with 20 independent truckers on a waiting list, but is struggling to finance more trucks.

“The ports may not get everything they wanted in the end but they did get us to buy new trucks,” said Cardenas.