Greenwire: The Teamsters union has formed an unlikely partnership with environmental activists to help clean the air around America’s ports.
The alliance is charging that short-haul trucking companies should purchase low-emission trucks, which can cost $100,000 to $175,000 each. The Teamsters union says truck drivers should not have to pay for the trucks because they are paid too little.
The team has already persuaded the Port of Los Angeles to adopt a plan barring old trucks from using the port and forcing trucking companies to buy cleaner vehicles that emit fewer diesel particulates. Federal officials are also putting pressure on ports to adopt cleaner air regulations, but the American Trucking Associations says the current system puts the burden on drivers to buy their own trucks. The group also wants seaports to subsidize the purchases, no matter who is paying.
The powerful alliance combining the Teamsters’ political clout and the environmentalists has friends in high places, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Corey Booker. Local mayors are urging Congress to amend truck-regulation law to give ports more authority over environmental rules. They say this will lead to more action like that in Los Angeles, where the industry brought in 6,000 new trucks and reduced emissions by 70 percent.
However, the truck industry is asking for the federal regulation to stay in place to make the national industry more standardized (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, Feb. 25). – JP