By Amy Goldsmith, State Director, New Jersey Currents|online, Summer 2010

New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF)* and 80 other activists and port drivers from around the country descended on Washington DC on May 4-6. Together, we participated in US Environmental Protection (USEPA) meetings, congressional hearings, lobby day and larger Good Jobs/Green Jobs rally. Our goal was to bring the economic plight of the port drivers to the forefront while at the same time demonstrating that remedies for the drivers will also mean clean airat the ports and surrounding communities.

Most port drivers are classified as "independent contractors". They transport "containers" short distances (approx. 70 miles). They must pay for all of their truck repairs, insurance, gas, , tolls, etc. They are paid by the load (averaging $200), not by the hour. The drivers while called "independent" are anything but ...they are only allowed to sign on with 1 company that dispatches them their pickup/drop off orders. The company often garnishes their wages for lease payments, fees, fuel, etc. At the end of the week, a driver may have a gross pay check of $1200, but come home with only $100 in their pocket. With the economic down turn, drivers are working 2-3 days a week, not full time. If they can not even support their families with the wages they earn, how they are going to afford to buy new clean trucks that do not pollute them at work and at home?

The Port of Los Angeles (LA) adopted a clean trucks program that we want at the NY/NJ ports. It requires companies to own and maintain the trucks. The drivers become employees of the trucking companies. Dirty diesel trucks are phased out over time. In the interim, a container fee is collected when using dirty trucks. Those funds were used to purchase clean trucks. After 6 months of implementation, the Port of Los Angeles had 6,000 clean diesel trucks in use and diesel pollution went down 70%. But the American Trucking Association got a court order to put the company provisions of the clean trucks program on hold. LA's successes of the past have come to a grinding halt. Ports around the country are hesitant to establish programs of their own given the pending litigation. That's why we went to Washington.

The May 5th congressional hearing, chaired Congressman Nadler (NY) and DeFazio (OR), set the stage for environmentalists, labor, and port drivers to make the case for the LA plan as originally intended. Industry association representations made their case as well. We called on Congress to change federal policy to allow the port authorities around the nation to have the power to set standards and conditions within their jurisdiction regarding port trucking and other issues of concern, as well as end of the misclassification of "independent" contract drivers at the ports. The Committee hearing chairs committed to investigating the driver misclassification issue, as well as draft legislation to authorize additional port powers.

Later that same day, our USEPA meeting at DC Headquarters resulted in an agreement to a follow up meeting on the issues raised including the use of stimulus money, incentives and public funds for diesel reduction measures. Our concern is that federal funds are largely for loans to drivers to buy cleaner trucks - loans that drivers can not afford. In fact, out of the 639 pre-1994 trucks the Port Authority of NY/NJ is hoping to get off the road by January 2011, only 80 preliminary applications have been filed and only 10 are near approval. It is uncertain if any of them will be completed and/or the drivers can maintain the payments once awarded (av. $1200+ per month).

On May 6th, we met with most of the NJ congressional delegation. They have been stellar in their support of our concerns. We are still working on our environmental leadership on the Republican side - Congressman LoBiondo, Lance and Smith. Once Congressman Nadler introduces the clean trucks legislation, we will be seeking NJ congressional co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle.

For more information about CHPs and NJEF's broader diesel initiatives go to: http://www.cleanwateraction.org/node/130 , http://www.healthyports.org/ and http://www.cleanwateraction.org/programinitiative/clean-air-campaign .

_{* NJEF chairs the Coalition for Healthy Ports (CHPs) - a collaborative of environmental/justice, community, interfaith, and labor organization working together to simultaneously secure clean air and good jobs at the NY/NJ ports, the 3rd largest in the nation, largest on the East Coast. Similar organizing efforts are underway in Seattle WA, Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach CA.}