The Coalition for Healthy Ports (CHP) is blasting what it says are detrimental changes to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey "Clean Air Strategy” plan; changes the group said would slow down the replacement of older trucks with newer and cleaner-emitting models.
CHP claimed that alterations to the Port Authority’s clean truck plan would allow commercial vehicles with engines as old as 1994 to enter the port until January 1, 2018, with only 1994 and 1995 trucks -- which total some 400 units in current port registry – being banned thereafter.
Under the original plan, all 1994-2006 engine model trucks would have been prohibited from port entry starting January 1, 2017, CHP said.
While the group noted that the Port Authority’s plan will require all newly registered port trucks to be equipped with 2007 or newer engines as of March 1 this year, it said that the replacement rate for older units – at an estimated 1,800 new registrations per year – will mean it will take eight to 10 years to eliminate all of the current older and “dirtier” trucks from drayage operation.
“Every day a dirty truck passes through the port and our neighborhoods it takes our breath away and in some cases forever,” said Amy Goldsmith, CHP’s chair, in a statement. “Asthma, just one of the many health harms dirty diesel causes, [is] killing more Newarkers [residents of Newark, NJ] than homicides.”
