Apparently, environmentalists, worker advocates and community residents aren’t the only ones crying foul over the latest roadblock against the Clean Trucks Program, courtesy of the Bush Administration’s “midnight” attack on the environment.

License Motor Carriers now anxious for a stable, competitive market in which they can grow and become responsible actors through green technology investment are pressuring the Federal Maritime Commission too. They are frustrated that the FMC has delayed the Clean Truck Program cargo fee, pending a 45-day review set to expire tomorrow.

Southern Counties, along with 3PL Transportation, Fox Transportation, Inc., Pacific9 Transportation, and Green Fleet Systems sounded off to the federal agency. Together these small, medium and large drayage companies which represent roughly 700 clean trucks and over 1,500 port drivers wrote letters to the FMC urging them to quit meddling. 

Here’s a sample from Brian Griley of Southern Counties:

“The immediate implementation of the collection process is not only critical to improving air quality in Southern California but to the economic survival of many trucking companies. We know this program is being reviewed closely, and that you have concerns with certain aspects. We are also aware that the FMC has indicated that the fee collection is not an area of concern. As such we are at a loss to why this action is being taken.”

The Los Angeles Business Journal’s Francisco Vara-Orta provided a thorough look at the issue in this week’s “Stuck Trucks,” a cover feature that details an almost united view of Mr. Griley, port administrators and the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports. Under the Clean Trucks Program, retail shippers that move goods via motor carriers with EPA-compliant fleets would be exempt from a mandatory $35 or $70 fee on each container – conditions that create both a desirable business partnership and cleaner air quicker.

But the FMC interference has resulted in hundreds of new alt-fuel trucks to just sit and gather dust since there is “a financial disincentive for motor carriers to use clean-burning rigs which…are more expensive to run because of their higher insurance and maintenance costs, given the sophisticated technology they use” the Business Journal noted.

Tomorrow, when the FMC meets behind closed doors, it could opt to ignore mounting evidence that 21^st century industry leaders no longer share the agency’s ideological commitment to the profit-by-pollution business models of the 20^th century by issuing another roadblock. But as the Natural Resources Defense Council’s formidable attorney David Pettit points out in his latest blog, “Let’s be very clear: if the clean trucks fee goes down, the clean trucks plan goes down too, taking port expansion plans with it.”

Stay tuned to find out more about what community and environmentalists who have urged the Bush Administration to drop its case -- and have taken their voices to Congress -- are also doing about it.