On Jan.1, a Port of Long Beach ban on truck engines older than 1994 came into effect. The rule also requires that all 1994-2003 engines be retrofitted. The ban is an important environmental protection. But, as the government has sidestepped the financial costs of retrofitting and replacing vehicles, it has proved to be yet another burden on already strapped truck drivers.
This new rule is part of the implementation of the Clean Truck Program launched Oct. 1, 2008. By 2012, engines built before 2007 will not be allowed in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Environmentally, the program has created impressive results with smog-forming pollutants dropping 74 percent from earlier figures. Because of the reduction of pollution in disadvantaged communities near the port, the Clean Truck Program has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Achievement Award.
However, meeting the new standards is not a cheap endeavor. An exhaust filter alone costs about $20,000 and a new engine can cost more than $100,000.
Who is paying for this? The burden for maintaining newer and cleaner engines has fallen on the truck drivers themselves. Under capitalism, the government comes up with environmentally friendly regulations but is not willing to cough up the money in order to support them. Owners—looking to maintain their rate of profit—in turn try to dump the responsibility on the backs of workers.
Most of the truck drivers in the port of Long Beach and Los Angeles are self-employed and make barely enough to survive in the first place. The added responsibility of buying and maintaining newer trucks has forced drivers to lease trucks together and split the cost of payment. In addition, the number of trucks serving the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles has been reduced to 11,000, a drop from 16,000 trucks in 2007.
In Oakland, where the Clean Truck Program has also been implemented, Mayor Ron Dellums had to postpone the ban by four months to avoid a strike by 1,000 drivers who could not afford to pay for new engines or retrofitting.
The media has framed this situation as truck drivers versus the environmentalists. This is not true. Truck drivers are not inherently opposed to environmentally sustainable vehicles. Many of them live in the very same communities that are the most affected by high levels of pollution, the communities that benefit from standards that reduce pollution. The drivers would like to have environmentally sustainable vehicles.
The problem is that the truck drivers cannot afford these costs and they should not be financially responsible for the newer engines. The government and companies that use the port—who profit from the work of the truck drivers—should pay for the costs of the new engines.
