Port authorities appear headed for a legal showdown with the trucking industry over a sweeping program to rid the harbor of polluting diesel trucks, the Long Beach Post-Telegram reports.
As commissioners on both sides of San Pedro Bay consider regulations to address growing smog woes attributed to diesel trucks, industry lawyers have prepared legal papers to block the plan.
Sources indicate that trucking interests will seek an injunction if and when the plan is adopted as proposed later this summer. The labor-backed plan, which gives concessions to trucking firms with the greenest fleets, is reportedly supported in whole by the L.A. Harbor Commission’s five members, but not universally in Long Beach.
The hang-up involves the plan’s radical departure from the current, deregulated drayage business model. Now, more than 14,000 independent “owner-operator” drivers are granted access to marine terminals on behalf of an estimated 1,500 motor carriers who hire drivers by the load.
The new plan would restrict access to truckers driving rigs owned and maintained by concessionaires with the most environmentally friendly fleets.
