Oakland Port Commission Seeks Resolution to Allow Local Officials Real Power to Clean Up Diesel Truck Pollution; Improve Securi...( OAKLAND Calif. July 9 -- In a rebuke...),Health

OAKLAND, Calif., July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a rebuke to the status quo in a deregulated trucking market, the Oakland Commission acknowledged a critical need for Congress to modernize transportation policy so the Port has the legal authority to set and enforce trucking industry standards to make goods movement sustainable for local communities and workers.

The Oakland Port Commission's decision to move forward on a resolution at their July 21st board meeting immediately earned praise from a coalition of port truck drivers and more than 80 environmental, community, public health and faith organizations working on port trucking reform.

"The Port is taking the right steps toward protecting public health by holding the highly polluting industry accountable for clean air," said Christine Cordero of the Center for Environmental Health.

The action appears to be in defiance of legal maneuvering by the Virginia-based American Trucking Association, which has hamstringed port efforts to move forward on a concession program with company clean-vehicle requirements and employment responsibilities to meet environmental, local hire, public safety and security objectives.

"Our nation's ports need the tools to protect public health by holding industry accountable to a more responsible means of transporting goods," said Port Commission President Victor Uno. "Unless Congress brings transportation law into the 21st Century, we will fail to permanently reduce the toxic diesel pollutants that are contributing to serious illnesses such as asthma and cancer amongst children, port drivers and residents."

The Port of Los Angeles became the first in the nation to recognize deregulation's failures by requiring trucking companies to sign comprehensive concession agreements. Since October 2008, the LA Clean Trucks Program and a similar plan in Long Beach have removed thousands of dirty trucks fro
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