Globalization

Asian Pacific Environmental Network
310 8th Street, Suite 309
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 834-8920
www.apen4ej.org

Brightline Defense Project
P.O. Box 420250
San Francisco, CA 94142
(415) 837-0600
www.brightlinedefense.org

Center for Food and Justice
Urban & Environmental Policy Institute
Occidental College
1600 Campus Road MS M-1
Los Angeles, CA 90041
(323) 341-5099
http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj

Coalition for Clean Air
1107 9th Street, Suite 830
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 498-1560
www.coalitionforcleanair.org

Communities for a Better Environment
1440 Broadway, Suite 701

By Martha Matsuoka

On March 20, 2008, hundreds of people filled the hall at Bannings Landing in the Los Angeles port community of Wilmington to witness the Los Angeles Harbor Commission adopt a Clean Trucks Program to reduce air pollution at the Port of Los Angeles. The program’s goals were straight-forward: replace and retrofit approximately 16,000 trucks in order to meet the 2007 federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards by 2012.

Once implemented, the Clean Trucks Program—which faces stiff opposition and pending lawsuits from industry—would require trucking companies which service the Port to hire truck drivers as employees rather than relying on independent truckers. With this model of doing business, the city hopes to reduce truck emissions, create a stable workforce, and set up mechanisms for community and government accountability.

Photo Essay: Puerto Cortez, Honduras And Acajutla, El Salvador