And a related effort to curb port pollution has been put on hold. On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the multibillion-dollar proposal, arguing that the related cargo fees would harm an already suffering economy.
The measure, SB 974 by Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), would have allowed the collection of $60 for each 40-foot container that moved through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach or Oakland. The $400 million raised annually would have gone into reducing traffic congestion and putting cleaner-burning engines in trucks and trains.
On Wednesday, truck traffic was lower than normal because the economic slowdown has hit the ports in dramatic fashion. Through August, overall container traffic at the Port of Long Beach was down 9.9% compared with the same period last year. That included a 12.8% drop in imported goods. Overall traffic at the Port of Los Angeles was down 4.6%, including a 7.2% drop in imports.
Fearing a traffic jam of trucks and drivers being turned away in droves, trucker Eduardo Valladares arrived early enough to be second in line at a Long Beach terminal. He was pleasantly surprised.
"This is not so bad," said Valladares, 40, who drives a battered blue Freightliner. "At least I can work today."
The program's goal is to rid local skies of tons of carcinogenic pollution and particulates and to persuade environmentalists to stop raising legal objections to expansion projects designed to meet future growth at the ports.
The ports' fleet of about 16,800 trucks account for more smog and soot than all 6 million cars in the region, and their diesel emissions cause 1,200 premature deaths annually, according to the California Air Resources Board. Asthma rates among children living in neighborhoods near the ports are double the national average, and dock workers and drivers face significantly higher risks of lung and throat cancer, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and local studies.
"My hat is off to the mayors who transformed talk of cleaning the air into action," said Martin Schlageter, campaign director of the Coalition for Clean Air. "Powerful institutional forces representing billions of dollars had for years urged that the ports not do anything. But the mayors and the ports stood firm."
The program, which is a key component of the Clean Air Action Plan designed to slash overall emissions at the ports by 45% by 2012, was hotly contested by the nation's largest trucking association. Now, an ongoing Federal Maritime Commission investigation looms over the program.
