Around the corner they rumbled, hundreds of aging tractor-trailers gunning to get another load into Terminal S at the Port of Long Beach. But on a recent weekday, air brakes hissed as drivers were pulled over by air pollution enforcement crews.
The short-haul diesel trucks, which ferry cargo between the docks, rail yards and area warehouses, are one tiny leg in the global journey of goods between Asia and the United States.
Their drivers are among the lowest-paid workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach -- the nation's busiest, which handle $360 billion in annual trade. Officials say the trucks are a leading cause of deadly pollution at the ports and need to go.
"Residents around here call this the diesel death zone," said California Air Resources Board spokesman Jerry Martin.
Tuesday's approval by voters of Proposition 1B, combined with an aggressive clean-air plan due to be voted on by local officials this month, could help replace more than 16,000 trucks with new ones within five years. Indeed, within 20 years, many short-haul trucks could be replaced by conveyor belts, electric "maglev" -- magnetic levitation -- trains and other "clean" technology.
"That is the long-term goal, to shovel the cargo with new technology," said Paul Johansen, assistant director of environmental management at the Port of Los Angeles.
Jose Gonzales, 60, a Carson resident originally from Mexico, stood by his 1989 engine as inspectors went under the hood. He paid $10,000 for the dingy beige tractor with a rickety trailer. Asked if he would like to replace his truck, which could cost as much as $180,000, he said there was no way he could afford it. At first he didn't understand when asked if he would accept a new truck financed with public dollars or private fees, then replied, "In a heartbeat."
Gonzales said he knows clean air is important. He put nearly $300 into repairs after being cited for air violations earlier in the month, a big expense on weekly wages of $1,000. "The mechanic told me everything is outstanding now," he said.
"Hardly," said the inspector, taking readings on a portable "smoke meter" stuck into the innards of the exhaust pipe. Gonzales' truck did pass, but it is still emitting 34% more soot than a new truck.
The push to replace the trucks is part of the struggle to clean up stubbornly dirty Southland air while the amount of goods shipped through the ports skyrockets.
