Delays in cleaning up the ports

Re “A storm in every port,” editorial, Feb. 24

The Times claims in its editorial that a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council aimed at reducing deadly diesel pollution from the Port of Long Beach actually will slow progress toward clean air. Perhaps The Times forgot that it was a lawsuit by the council -- the China Shipping case -- that forced the ports of L.A. and Long Beach to begin addressing their toxic emissions.

Despite the council’s efforts, however, the ports’ dirty diesel trucking system is still a source of unmitigated pollution. Long Beach’s just-announced plan to clean up pollution is no better than the current system because it still places the burden of repairing and replacing port trucks on the undercapitalized drivers, most of whom earn about $30,000 a year.

What is needed instead is a system that will provide incentives to responsible trucking companies to run clean, efficient trucks and to replace them when needed.

The council is working with both ports to negotiate a solution. But, as the China Shipping experience shows, sometimes the only road to clean air runs through the courts.

David Pettit

Santa Monica

The writer is director of the Southern California Clean Air Program with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

I’m baffled at your editorial placing the blame for delay on advocates of clean air. The ports are at least a year behind in their five-year Clean Air Action Plan, and industry lawyers incessantly threaten litigation.

The Port of Long Beach passed a plan to clean up trucks this month with, as you note, major elements of it “still unclear.” A glaring weakness is its failure to influence working conditions, which put its air-quality goals at risk because marginalized truck drivers skimp on properly maintaining their trucks. These are concerns for environmentalists and labor advocates alike. Whatever you think of Long Beach’s plan, in fact, it is not being delayed by legal actions of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

However, you predict that if the Port of Los Angeles takes a more sustainable approach that accounts for truck drivers and not just trucks, the American Trucking Assn. will sue to stop it. So let’s ask the question again: Who is for delay, and who is for progress?

Martin Schlageter

Campaign Director

Coalition for Clean Air

Los Angeles