The Port of Long Beach’s landmark Clean Trucks Program has won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Achievement Award— the nation’s highest honor for reducing the impact of pollution on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The EPA recognized the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, along with several community, environmental and industry partners, for “setting the bar” for port facilities worldwide. The EPA commended the port stakeholder group that helped develop the trucking program and collaborated to replace thousands of aging, exhaust-spewing trucks with new, clean big-rigs. The program is producing “immediate and ongoing environmental benefits” for local neighborhoods, the EPA said.
“Protecting our neighbors from air pollution is exactly what we set out to do with the Clean Trucks Program,” said Nick Sramek, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. “We are happy to see this program and our partnership recognized as an example for addressing environmental justice concerns.”
Officially launched October 1, 2008, the Clean Trucks Program is spurring the replacement of the entire trucking fleet at the nation’s largest port complex. It is on track to achieve an 80-percent reduction in truck-related air pollution nearly two years ahead of schedule.
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