Today's guest posting is by Adrian Martinez of NRDC. It originally appeared on Switchboard.

Today marks an historic day for Southern California residents. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach started their clean trucks programs, which will pay huge dividends to the health of harbor area residents. Today, some of the oldest, most polluting trucks have been barred from port service. Over the next five years, all the old trucks that service the ports will be phased out to be replaced by newer, cleaner trucks. With some of the filthiest air in the entire Los Angeles region, this could not have come sooner for harbor area residents. 

It's been longer than two years since the ports debated, studied, considered, and adopted programs to clean up the significant air pollution from trucks. Today, the rubber hit the road with the first major step in cleaning up port truck pollution. There have been naysayers along the way, including most prominently, the American Trucking Associations. As industry doomsday predictions of harbor area mayhem, goblins roaming throughout Wilmington, San Pedro, and Long Beach, and the sky falling, ran rampant throughout this debate, we are confident that the harbor area is safe today and the air will be cleaner tomorrow. 

Just to be sure the streets are safe and witness the first day of the truck plan for myself, I attended a press conference at the Port of LA and was able to see some of the new, cleaner trucks that will be commonplace in the harbor area. And that folks, is the bottom line. Literally starting today, thousands of the dirtiest diesel-polluting trucks are not allowed on port property. They aren't welcome and by scrapping them, they won't be welcome to pollute anywhere else. The air will be cleaner, residents will breathe easier and port business will move forward into the 21st century.

Finally, the Port of Los Angeles and Mayor Villaraigosa deserve a lot of credit for implementing a sustainable truck program that will ensure better operations at the ports.  Of course, there will continue to be naysayers and industry litigation aimed at obstructing clean-up programs if it affects their profit line, but, we must keep in mind that the opposition is vastly outnumbered compared to the immense support from residents, environmental, environmental justice, faith-based and labor groups standing behind the forward-looking, comprehensive LA policy.

It is a business model that will allow responsible companies to prosper, and is a key part of paving the way for port growth - minus the new cases of asthma, respiratory illnesses and premature death related to diesel air pollution. My clients, colleagues, friends and port drivers in the harbor area have borne these costs for too long, and they are closing up their lending business that depreciates their health once and for all.    

Today's guest post is by Jon Zerolnick of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, co-author of "Foreclosure on Wheels."

On Friday I discussed how the Port of Long Beach - a public, government entity which once had a goal of reversing the economic conditions that created our environmental crisis - signed on the dotted line with Daimler/Mercedes Benz in a financing scheme that would make drivers poorer.

Remember the Consumer Federation of California's numbers-crunch on a real port driver? It compared the independent hauler's earnings now, against how that trucker would fare under a Daimler loan, using public, conservative estimates. Even with all the touted "fuel savings," her take-home pay would actually fall from $10.68 to $8.46, because of the crushing new monthly truck payment averaged over the lifetime of the loan (even assuming the cheapest possible truck!).

The good news is Ms. Dominguez is among the 16,611 drivers out of 16,800 who have said "thanks but no thanks" to the wheelers and dealers over at the Long Beach leasing location, preferring instead to drive a clean, company-owned truck as an employee in Los Angeles. (If you haven't spent time over at the port trailer, it's eye-opening: Contracted personnel have been spotted chasing drivers out to the parking lot when they refuse to sign up, hence the phrase "predatory lending practices.")

But what if this Latina driver was among the 189 workers who have fallen victim to these nefarious reps, and would have to cough up an average of $650 a month over the next seven years? What expenses would she have to cut from the family budget, now that her income would drop roughly 26 percent?

Would she have to take a second job despite working 48 hours a week to pay for the other half of rent? A 2-bedroom apartment goes for $1,200 in Long Beach.

How would she keep food on the table? A month of groceries for an average family of four total $648 a month (or higher, with prices rising).

But who could go without shelter and food? Perhaps Ms. Dominguez could sacrifice all utilities ($200), diapers ($84), infant formula ($150), and gas for the family car ($128). That's just $562! No one had better get sick though. Just to be seen by the doctor if you're uninsured costs $90 alone. Let's not get started on tests, X-rays, medicine and the like. 

Medicine or milk. Fuel or formula. These are the choices that Long Beach and its buddies over at the German symbol of wealth and luxury are imposing on at least 189 drivers - 189 too many.   

Today's guest post is by Jon Zerolnick of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, co-author of "Foreclosure on Wheels."

Well, Long Beach went ahead and signed its predatory truck lending deal with Daimler, despite scathing criticism that extended well beyond this powerful local coalition of environmentalists, community, labor and public health advocates. The Consumer Federation of California and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were among the prominent state and national organizations that refused to remain silent, with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond likening the plight of port drivers under this scheme to "Sharecropping on Wheels."

The Road's sources recently confirmed that as of last week, a mere 189 drivers had submitted applications.[1]  

That's just a smidgen over 1% of drivers in a workforce universe of 16,800, which shows the vast majority of port drivers aren't falling for an unjust lease-to-own scheme that puts the mandate of cleaner commerce into the wrong - and riskiest - hands. But it's still 189 drivers too many.

As the recent NAACP-coalition report that my organization, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy co-authored entitled "Foreclosure on Wheels: Long Beach's Truck Program Puts Drivers at High Risk for Default," noted:

"Currently, most 'San Pedro Bay' port drivers (80%) have no truck payment; this additional fixed monthly cost, even absent the additional challenges outlined in this report, is itself a significant financial strain." That 80% figure comes from the Gateway Cities Council of Governments March 2007 report.

In other words, low-wage workers lured into becoming indentured servants of the port industry who pay zero dollars a month for their truck now will suddenly have to come up with $600-650 every 30 days, averaged over the lifetime of the seven-year loan. Imagine that new unavoidable expense, as an independent hauler who earns $11-12 an hour (an outdated figure derived when the economy was stronger and fuel costs were far lower). 

Tomorrow, I will go into more detail about how this scheme will kill a family budget and drive Long Beach families into bankruptcies, not to mention fail to sustain desired clean-up efforts. Something tells me Warren Buffett won't step in to bail these workers out like he did for Goldman Sachs in a more localized example of government policy-making gone awry, for business and working families alike.  Like recent news of the national economy, the full impact seems unfathomable.

[1] Public Records Act Request to Port of Long Beach from Jon Zerolnick, senior policy and research analyst at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, dated September 9, 2008.  Information released on September 18, 2008, exactly ten days later.  (The state PRA allows for up to ten days to comply with request.  See California Government Code § 6250 et seq.)

Today's guest posting is by Adrian Martinez of NRDC. It originally appeared on Switchboard.

When I was thirteen years old, I purchased a "keep on truckin" patch that I placed on my backpack.  Back then, I thought it was a pretty cool design, but I did not know much about Robert Crumb or for that matter big rig trucks rumbling through the streets of LA and Long Beach.  However, this phrase has a greater meaning to me and harbor area residents this week because a federal court of appeals told the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that they can "keep on truckin" towards cleaner and more sustainable port operations.  

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the American Trucking Associations emergency request for a preliminary injunction to stop both ports from implementing parts of their clean trucks programs. The Ninth Circuit determined that the ATA "has failed to establish that it will be irreparably injured absent an injunction, or that the public interest lies in favor of granting an injunction."  So, the major legal hurdles have been removed to meeting the October 1st deadline when the oldest trucks servicing the ports will be banned from port operations, and only responsible trucking companies large and small will be allowed to enter onto port land.      

On the other coast, the Federal Maritime Commission ("FMC"), an administrative agency that oversees a statute called the Shipping Act discussed the clean trucks programs in closed session today.  The FMC announced that it will launch an investigation into certain parts of the clean trucks programs.  Although this may sound bad, as we understand it, the FMC does not intend to delay the start date of the clean trucks programs.  In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Brennan voiced that the FMC should not conduct the investigation into the clean trucks programs.  He stated "[w]hile the investigation does not technically delay the Ports' plans to move forward, it will create a legal cloud over the Ports' plan to clean up the air and to create jobs through port expansion."  Commissioner Brennan obviously has seen the perpetual cloud of smog hovering over LA.  At the same time, we are confident that a fair and honest review by the FMC will find that the clean trucks programs are "just and reasonable."  Considerable time went into crafting these programs and as two courts have already determined, the public interest favors letting these programs move forward pending court review.  In addition, this is good news for those favoring port expansion because cleaning up the trucks is one of the critical elements for "green growth" at the ports.      

So, residents in Southern California can breathe a little bit easier this weekend knowing that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals did not throw up roadblocks to stop these ports in their quest to protect resident by creating safer and cleaner ports on October 1st.    

Meet Moises Gonzalez, an "independent contractor" who hauls goods from the ports in a 1997 truck to support his wife and two children. Last week, this driver was suddenly fired by Express Intermodal Transportation, a company owned by Bob Curry. [Interestingly enough, Jose Maria Lira, a company at the center of the Attorney-General's crackdown, sub-hauls with K&R another one of Mr. Curry's companies. Coincidence?]

According to Moises, the boss called a meeting where drivers were yet again being pressured into buying the new trucks, in yet another example of trucking firms attempting to pass the cost for cleaner commerce on to underpaid workers. "I told him that even if I wanted to get a lease, I couldn't. How can I buy a new truck when I'm still paying off my current truck? I just can't afford it."

When the boss insisted on a new truck being mandatory, Moises spoke on behalf of every driver in the room: "That's a lie. A new truck is not mandatory if your truck is an 89 or later model. You just want us to buy new trucks so that you don't have to pay the extra cargo fee."

The response to Moises? Leave if you don't like it. Hours later the boss called him into the office and made it official that Moises' services were no longer needed.. "I got fired because I spoke up. No matter how unjust they are treating us, they want us to just stay quiet." (Note to Attorney-General Brown investigators...take a hard look at this company as a hotspot for possible violations.)

When Moises got home and shared the awful news with his family, his eldest daughter asked if they would be able to pay rent. "I told them we would be OK, but I just don't know. All I know is that our best protection is to become employees."

Moises is not alone. Over 40 other drivers at their sister company -Container Freight - have found themselves without work in just the last week and other truckers expect it to get worse. The backwards-looking companies are looking for ways to further exploit the drivers as October 1^st nears. "It's awful to be in this situation, I can't afford not to have money coming in. But I also can't afford to tie myself into a lease that would literally take food off my family's table. I hope drivers stick together and don't fall into the trap of the companies."

Moises is walking the talk. He's warning drivers about his situation and taking steps in order to be matched up with a responsible concession employer soon.

From Carlos Peinado, a student at Long Beach City College

I am the Director of Student Environment at Long Beach City College (LBCC). Our student group believes that the environmental hazards on our campus and in our community can no longer be ignored and we feel that if students come together against these issues we can really make a difference. That's why we hosted an information session entitled "The Port of Long Beach, The Community and The Environment: A Panel Discussion" last week.

We're certainly not the decision-makers at the Press-Telegram (The Road is pro-worker and pro-union, after all), but we did want to post this letter to the editor that Cabrillo High School teacher Bernice Banares forwarded to us in response to the P-T editorial last week that championed the Long Beach Clean Trucks Program, which frankly just puts lipstick on the same ol' polluting pig. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Today's guest posting is written by Maria Agamenon, an active member of a local group for mothers of children with asthma.

I dedicate my life to taking care of my three kids. The two younger ones, Stephanie and Edwin, both suffer from asthma. Like many other mothers who also live in Long Beach, I hold my breath every time my child coughs and hope to God it will not escalate into another trip to the public emergency room. I can't put into words how frightening it is to see your child gasp for air. No mother can ever get used to the sight of their child struggling to breathe.

Today's guest posting is by David Pettit of NRDC. It originally appeared on Switchboard.

The American Trucking Association ("ATA") bragged that its lawsuit, aimed at killing the truck concession plans of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, was a "slam dunk." United States District Court Judge Christina Snyder disagreed in a ruling issued on September 9, 2008, denying ATA's request for a preliminary injunction that would have put the concession plans on ice. 

There are two main requirements for a preliminary injunction: probability of success on the merits, and a showing of irreparable injury. ATA threw up bricks on each issue. 

On Sept 5 Attorney-General Jerry Brown announced a set of lawsuits against trucking companies that abuse their workers by denying them basic employee rights and protections. "These companies engage in cost-cutting schemes that take advantage of their workers and avoid California taxes. They unlawfully classify their workers as ‘independent contractors,' circumventing state employment taxes and labor laws that guarantee workers compensation, disability benefits and the right to a minimum wage."

Who would suffer more from the landmark clean trucks program set to begin Oct. 1: the trucking industry or residents affected by toxic diesel emissions?

On Sept 5 Attorney-General Jerry Brown announced lawsuits against tax-cheating trucking companies that abuse their workers by denying them basic employee rights and protections in the San Pedro Bay. "These companies engage in cost-cutting schemes that take advantage of their workers and avoid California taxes. They unlawfully classify their workers as ‘independent contractors,' circumventing state employment taxes and labor laws that guarantee workers compensation, disability benefits and the

When you invite guests to a party, it's very bad form to turn them away at the door. But that's just what the Port of Long Beach tried to do when over 100 port drivers and their community advocates showed up at the Ports' Clean Trucks Center this morning.

Well, today’s LA Times story certainly doesn’t fare well for Daimler Truck Financial, Mercedes Benz’ parent company, which is being accused of provoking foreclosures on wheels, sharecropping on wheels, sweatshops on wheels, and all other sorts of predatory wheeling and dealing. (How do you say ouch in German?)

After we posted the pay stub of an independent contractor port driver who spent a week behind the wheel and came home with only $1.76, some observers just had to see for themselves if diesel fuel and insurance costs could really eat up a driver's whole pay check. That's just what Isaias Alvarado of the country's most widely circulated Spanish-language daily, La Opinión, did when he contacted the driver in question and two others to confirm that, in his words, "port drivers are literally paying to move containers."

For all of you still laboring under the delusion that port truck drivers will be able to pay $500 - $700 a month for a new truck, please observe closely. Mario, a port truck driver with nearly a decade of experience, came to work each morning at 4:30 AM and took every load he was offered. Here's what he was left with at the end of the week:

It ran in the LA Times on Saturday and was confirmed this morning (here's the evidence) - the American Trucking Association has filed a law suit to block plans to replace old polluting trucks at both of the San Pedro Bay Ports.

Why is the Bay Area getting in line behind Los Angeles ? Take a virtual multimedia march, and transport yourself as 3,000 others did on Tuesday…

From Tom Politeo, Sierra Club Harbor Vision Task Force

It’s official. The campaign to keep dirty diesel trucks off the road for good has broken its own record for the most unfounded, hostile editorials by the Long Beach Press-Telegram. It was only a few months ago the local paper’s ed-board devoted several Sundays to wild claims about the Teamsters, one of the 30+ partner organizations of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports. The Road wonders, what will they think of next?

Here in the harbor area, a diverse community of activists has been fighting to hold the goods movement industry responsible for the environmental and public health impacts of its multi-billion dollar business for many years. So it comes as no surprise to us that the American Trucking Association's Curtis Whalen would tell a reporter for the Journal of

Enjoy your 4th of July weekend, and be very glad you aren't a port truck driver getting ready to purchase a truck through the financing scheme cooked up by the Port of Long Beach.

Good news. The Tidelands and Harbor Committee of the Long Beach City Council recommended yesterday that the entire council hold a study session to examine the Clean Trucks Program rushed through by Long Beach Harbor Commissioners in February. The recommendation came following a series of comments by community stakeholders who challenged the scheme, asking Committee Chair Suja Lownethal, and members Bonnie Lowenthal and Gary DeLong to take a close hard look.

There’s Councilwoman Janice Hahn, surrounded by the American Lung Association’s Tamara Watkins, the Sierra Club’s Tom Politeo, NRDC’s Adrian Martinez, “diesel-death zone” mothers, and port truck drivers on the steps of City Hall June 17, when the LA City Council unanimously adopted the comprehensive, sustainable Clean Trucks Program that will reduce deadly emissions by 80 percent.

A trio of press accounts this morning set a few things straight, and should have all Southern Californians cheering along with environmentalists, public health advocates and port drivers:

Less than one week after every majority-party Member of Congress across California sent a strongly-worded letter urging the Federal Maritime Commission to support the landmark Port of Los Angeles' Clean Trucks Program, officials in Washington found that competition will not be hampered by its initial implementation and granted expedited review of the historic clean-air policy. The FMC determines whether the plan conflicts with federal commerce law.

Here's the story from today’s Long Beach Press-Telegram. The American Trucking Association has confirmed it's preparing to file lawsuits against the Port of Long Beach’s Clean Trucks Program as well as against the sustainable, comprehensive plan passed by the Port of Los Angeles. Clike here to read CCSP's statement on the ATA's pronouncement.

Should America's ports be required to allow any trucking company that shows up at their gates entrance inside - no matter what? The American Trucking Association seems to think so. They may have spun their opposition to the San Pedro Ports' Clean Truck Programs as limited to responsible employer provisions, but it turns out the ATA appears to reject the Ports playing any role in restricting access to their property.

California Progress Report, the site that statewide Democrats and their staffs click on for their morning coffee, is running a two-day series by Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports Chair Patricia Castellanos and CCSP Oakland Director Doug Bloch on Los Angeles’ green-growth port model, aka

From Long Beach resident Martha Cota

I am a working mother of three sons and one daughter. I’ve often had to hold down as many as three jobs at a time to raise my children. I may not have much money, but living here by the port, I’ve come to learn one thing: It doesn’t matter if a person is wealthy or low-income. In Long Beach, we all breathe the same dirty air and we all suffer.

From Patricia Castellanos, Chair, CCSP

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently argued in a Sunday magazine cover story "I think that living, working, designing, manufacturing and projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century."

For the first time ever, a city outside of California, (Pittsburg, PA) tops one of the most polluted lists in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air: 2008 report. Los Angeles saw improvements in air quality, dropping its year-round particle pollution levels by nearly one-third in the last decade.

Hearty press cheers today to the Sierra Club's Tom Politeo and Teamsters VP Chuck Mack Pacific Shipper magazine, which printed an article by titled, "LA program catapults port trucking into the green economic revolution." You'll need a subscription to access the article on line, but it's is well worth it, considering Mack and Politeo share decades of expertise closely watching the economic and environmental consequences of port trucking. Here's an excerpt:

For those who missed out on March 20th when the Port of Los Angeles unanimously approved its landmark Clean Trucks Program, check out this inspiring highlight video. Or if you were among the hundreds of port drivers, environmentalists, community members and public health advocates who literally flooded the waterfront to witness LA Harbor Commissioners take the high road to clean air, transport yourself back to that victorious moment.

Earlier, The Road began exploring the legal questions surrounding the Port of Los Angeles' sweeping policy to reduce deadly diesel truck emissions for the long haul...

Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners have reached a historic settlement with environmentalists, community and labor groups to mitigate pollution from necessary Port expansion projects. Here are some of the reasons The Road is celebrating:

As one Missouri driver who has stopped hauling freight in a nationwide action to call attention

Today we revisit the Long Beach port truck scheme. Commissioner Mike Walter repeatedly asked environmental skeptics if they understood the "benefits" for drivers. The Road will debunk the bogus health care "entitlement" another day, but for now we reveal one of those so-called bennies is actually a new, unfunded mandate on drivers.

In his reporting on the LA Harbor Commission unanimously adopting a strong Clean Trucks Program, Los Angeles Times journalist Louis Sahagun recounted a memorable moment "marked by sharp comments directed by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn at Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission President Mario Cordero, who was a guest" at the historic proceedings:

"We don't take the fear of litigation as a reason not to do the right thing."

Just shy of a year after Dr. Geraldine Knatz declared it to Journal of Commerce, the Port she directs is ready to live up to those words.

Geraldine Knatz, the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, spoke to South Bay residents in an op-ed entitled "Port Trucking System Needs an Overhaul" in Sunday's Daily Breeze about LA's plan to say goodbye to truck pollution (and a page right out of history) - and why harbor officials will enact the comprehensive, sustainable business model preferred by leading economists , (and modernity itself):

By Candice Kim of the Coalition for Clean Air

The AQMD has developed an interactive map that lets Southern California residents view how strongly toxic chemicals are concentrated in their neighborhoods, and how high an elevated cancer risk they face. Talk about too much information.

By David Pettit, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council

A recent story in the District Weekly is yet another indication that in spite of the goods movement industry's misinformation campaign claiming environmentalists are impeding cleanup efforts at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the American Trucking Association (ATA) is providing us all a real lesson in Obstructionism 101.

“What I'm trying to say, sir, is listen to us,” Long Beach Port Driver Oscar Tarelo told Mayor Bob Foster at last night’s packed city council meeting. “This program that Long Beach is giving us is not gonna work because it’s too expensive for us."

"They're not going to send tennis shoes to Anaheim through Seattle," S. David Freeman dismissively told the Los Angeles Times, earning the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission President the Road's quote of the week.

Cheer: To the Long Beach Press-Telegram's Kristopher Hanson for nailing the newsworthiness of the ATA taking legal action against the weakened model Long Beach rushed through to appease this industry that still won't live with any clean-air standards, regardless of an employee proviso, in "Trucking Assoc. to fight L.B. Port plan."

Well, the Road doesn't actually have a crystal ball, but we did see into the future: The American Trucking Association is opposed to the Long Beach Clean Trucks scheme.

Have you seen those full-page ads, or read the Press-Telegram story about the political heat that Long Beach Mayor Foster is taking for overseeing what The Road is dubbing a Not-Clean Trucks Plan?

Oscar wanted to escape the diesel that permeated every aspect of his life, but soon discovered there was no way out.

In case you missed it, this morning's Long Beach Press-Telegram featured an ad with an angry Long Beach mother who wants to know why Mayor Bob Foster is siding with - and not standing up to - the big industry polluters. The Road is confused too, and thinks she has a right to know.

We certainly got the LA Times and the LB Press Telegram in a huff, didn't we? But for all the bluster in these editorials, they're filled with blatant internal contradictions, like the Long Beach scheme itself. 

While politics-as-usual corporate deal-making may still be the way to do business in Long Beach, make no mistake: The community will prevail and Long Beach Harbor Commissioners will not prevent the most dramatic-diesel emissions reduction program in LA history from being enacted in Southern California. Read the complete statement from CCSP chair Patricia Castellanos here.

Long Beach Harbor Commissioners have adopted a truck scheme opposed by environmentalists and public health groups who recognize that half-baked measures won't be enough to clean the air, or create good jobs.

The nearly 1 in 5 kids who have asthma around our ports know exactly why they’re sick, but they won’t get any relief if the Port of Long Beach moves forward with its reckless scheme to appease the giant industry shippers and trucking companies.

In a telling exercise with 5th graders at St. Lucy Elementary School in Long Beach, Ellina Green of the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma (LBACA) asked the students to illustrate where they thought the pollution comes from in their own neighborhoods.

A Statement by CCSP Chair Patricia Castellanos

We are deeply disturbed that the Port of Long Beach has has rejected a comprehensive and sustainable solution supported by over 30 environmental, public health, community, clergy and labor organizations that will reduce diesel emissions by over 80 percent and fix our broken port trucking system -- and instead intends to ram through a staff-devised scheme that will fail to permanently reduce severe port truck pollution.

From Patricia Castellanos, Chair, CCSP

There's no shortage of half-baked ideas being floated by the profitable goods movement industry to get themselves off the hook from purchasing a new era of clean, low-emissions port trucks. Among them: Dole out grants to drivers, which would in effect make the LA and Long Beach Ports, and hence, taxpayers, the backers of the next generation of sub-prime loans.