NY-NJ Clean-Trucks Plan 'a First Step'

The first phase of the Port of New York and New Jersey’s clean-trucks plan drew praise from a diverse group including the Teamsters union, the American Trucking Associations, environmentalists and maritime interests.

Representatives of the groups, which participated in a working group that developed recommendations for implementing the plan, said the port authority’s plan to upgrade the port’s harbor drayage fleet represents a first step toward reducing air pollution.

Replacement of pre-1994 trucks by next year represents “a plan to eliminate some of the dirtiest diesels in our midst and make the port more sustainable,” said Richard Kassel, director of the Clean Fuels and Vehicles project at the Natural Resources Defense Council and co-chair of the port authority’s truck working group.

The clean-trucks plan would not require New York-New Jersey to follow the lead of Los Angeles by requiring owner-operator drivers to become company employees, a key goal of the Teamsters union, which has been working to organize port drivers. The port working group did not recommend such a change.

Fred Potter, director of the Teamsters port division, said the Teamsters and its environmental allies welcomed the port authority’s plan to replace the port’s oldest trucks. However, he added that they “are concerned that this program may place an economic burden on port drivers who average $10 to $11 an hour and lack a safety net, rather than the shipping companies and trucking outfits that profit from goods movement.”

Potter called for amending federal law to allow local agencies to regulate port trucking, an issue the Port of Los Angeles and the American Trucking Associations are battling over in a federal lawsuit filed by the ATA.

Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com.