Great news for the fight for good jobs and clean air at the Port of Oakland!
Last Thursday, a district court judge in California ruled in favor of the Los Angeles Clean Truck program. This ruling removes the legal hurdles that have prevented the Port of Los Angeles from enforcing all provisions of one of the most effective diesel reduction programs in the country.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the author of the Clean Ports Act of 2010, called the ruling
A very welcome development in the longstanding efforts to modernize the nation's truck fleets and reduce diesel pollution. Now we must pass the Clean Ports Act in order to bring federal law in line with the current realities of our ports and the needs of U.S. truck drivers, and to ensure that future legal challenges do not impede environmental progress.
The ruling comes just months after the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports and the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy took the fight to fix the broken port trucking system all the way to Washington, DC for a historic hearing on clean trucks and ports.
At the hearing, Congressmembers Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) not only dared to ask tough questions of the trucking industry, but also promised to further investigate the trucking industry scams that are threatening the livelihoods of port truck drivers.
As coalition members testified, the industry relies on outdated federal laws to justify passing the cost of cleaning up the air onto low-income truck drivers and taxpayers while continuing the vicious cycle of working poverty at our nation’s ports.
Low-income truck drivers and taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for the industry’s responsibility to clean the air we all breathe. Help us bring Los Angeles' pioneering program home to Oakland and to other port communities across America by signing the petition in support of the Clean Ports Act of 2010.