On Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 Sage joined a national delegation supporting stronger local environmental and safety regulations for our nation's ports at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. At the hearing, members of Congress were hearing about port issues for the first time, and started asking tough questions.

We know that the unaccountable port trucking industry and its dirty diesel trucks are to blame for the “sweatshop on wheels” working conditions that drivers face and the poor air quality in neighboring low-income communities. Yet, as we have seen in Los Angeles, the port trucking industry and the American Trucking Association, have halted efforts to fix this problem by hiding behind 30-year-old laws like the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA), which deregulated the trucking industry at a time when the health risks of diesel pollution were unknown. This antiquated law prevents local ports from passing common-sense environmental and safety regulations.

In the winter of 2010, Port CEO Tay Yoshitani led an effort to defeat federal legislation that would enable ports around the country to set environmental, workforce and safety standards on port trucks, and spent $60,000 dollars of taxpayer money to do so. Gael Tarleton fudged clan truck facts to promote the Port's plan.

In the fall and winter of 2009-2010, as the national Ports campaign gained momentum, the media has increasingly taken an interest in our coalition’s fight for good jobs and clean air.

In the summer of 2009, Sage and the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ) conducted a door-to-door survey of residents in Georgetown and South Park to better understand how Port of Seattle activities were affecting their health and quality of life.

On March 3, 2010, Puget Sound Sage partnered with the Church Council of Greater Seattle and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) to inform the local faith community about the campaign to make the Port of Seattle accountable.

Soon after the approval of the LA Clean Truck Program in July 2008, the American Trucking Association (ATA) filed a lawsuit in federal district court saying the LA plan was pre-empted by federal law.

On April 14, 2009, Port of Seattle Commissioners unanimously voted to pass a plan that will ban the dirtiest trucks (pre-1994 trucks) from port docks, starting at the end of 2010. Under the port’s plan, workers with banned trucks will receive $5,000 for scraping their truck, but if the drivers want to keep working they must buy a new truck or lose their jobs. The Port of Seattle has labeled itself “the cleanest, greenest, most energy-efficient port in the nation,” but the Port’s clean truck plan doesn’t do nearly enough to address the impacts of pollution in the neighborhoods, and it hurts the truck drivers.

The WA Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is urging the Port of Seattle to adopt the L.A. Clean Truck Plan as the model for Seattle. The Port of Los Angeles’ Clean Truck Program is a central element of their Clean Air Action Plan, which targets major sources of diesel emissions at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – ships, trains, trucks, cargo handling equipment and harbor craft.