Today's guest blog is by Doug Bloch, Director of the Oakland Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports

Part I: The Oakland Problem

This week, the Oakland Port Commission will consider meeting minimum clean-air standards by requiring port trucks to be replaced or retrofitted with filters.

The problem with Oakland's band-aid approach is that it relies on taxpayers and individual workers to pay for a one-time quick fix to improve air quality in 2010 instead of requiring the actual polluters - the trucking industry and their mega-rich shipper clients - to permanently assume responsibility for cleaner commerce now. Local and state regulators created a grant program to subsidize some of the cost, but in the absence of the real change that Oakland residents have been promised, low-income "independent contractors" will be driven into debt if they continue hauling cargo.

Here's the basic economics: The cost of a retrofit filter is estimated to be as high as $28,000. Drivers lucky enough to be awarded the maximum available would only be granted $15,000, meaning most port drivers will have to pay upwards of $10,000 out of pocket. Opting for a new environmentally-friendly truck will be even steeper, considering most clean vehicles run over $100,000, and a driver would be lucky to get even half subsidized. How does a port driver averaging $30,000 a year (before the economic slow-down) budget either option with the credit market closing to even less-risky individuals?

Another problem is that if a driver signs a grant contract, he or she must make a certain number of port or rail moves a year to avoid paying penalties, regardless of cargo volume and work available.

One driver told me he received a $40,000 grant in a previous truck replacement program. He got a loan for $10,000 and paid $8,000 out of pocket to replace his truck. Given the recent downturn in the economy, he's having trouble meeting the moves quota. His credit cards are maxed out and he's had to borrow more money to keep the truck on the road. Now, that same rig needs to be retrofitted to meet the new clean air standards. Here's a worker who wanted to do the right thing, who wanted to help clean up the environment. But instead he's stuck with a worthless asset that is bankrupting him. Why replicate this man's predicament into port-wide policy?

Small wonder so many drivers have already given up and are leaving the industry altogether. How will the Port operate and grow without experienced truck drivers to haul goods? Tomorrow I'll talk about the advantages for business, workers and the community if Oakland commits to real change instead of tinkering around the edges and making the problem worse.