I’ve got an update on my post about Seattle Port CEO Tay Yoshitani, who went to lobby against a Clean Truck policy yesterday at a meeting of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).
Unfortunately, Yoshitani was successful in his attempt to rally the AAPA’s policy committee against reform. The wording of the resolution Yoshitani championed basically argues that individual ports have environmental protections under control, and therefore no action is needed on the federal level. (This is untrue—you can read why in my recent Stranger article on Seattle-specific problems, or this Demos analysis of the broader national issue about de-regualting the trucking industry and its negative impacts on drivers, pollution, and public health.) The resolution concludes: “AAPA does not believe there is a need at this time to amend Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.” Every member of the policy committee endorsed it, except the LA representative—the port that has gone the furthest in the fight for reform (more on this later in the post).
The resolution managed to get through despite the opposition of the LA and Oakland ports, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. You’d think such heavy-hitters would have been able to block Yoshitani’s resolution, but other than LA the others have somehow neglected to get on the AAPA’s policy committee. Oops. The resolution will now go to the larger AAPA in March where it will be rubber-stamped into official policy.
But the villain of the piece isn’t the AAPA’s policy committee, which is dominated by smaller ports who haven’t had to deal with the trucking issue on the same scale as New York City, Los Angeles or, say, Seattle! SRather the question is what the hell is the president of our port doing fighting against reform that would be good for our environment, for the drivers, and for the communities around the port? What exactly does he think he is doing? Expect another update later this week. I’m going to call around and try to figure some of this out.
Meanwhile, Heather Weiner, a consultant for the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports wrote to correct me about the nature of port-related legislation being worked out in D.C. right now:
Clarifying a point in your article: We are not asking Congress to directly address the problems in port trucking or to change truck drivers’ employment status. We are merely asking Congress to close a 30-year old loophole that the ATA and some Ports, including the Port of Seattle, say prevents them from setting environmental, safety, security and labor standards for trucks.
The law in question is the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. This is the loophole that allowed the American Trucking Association (ATA) to sue the Port of Los Angeles when they enacted their Clean Truck Program. (The program brought hundreds of trucking companies into concessionary business arrangements with the port, under the condition that those companies take responsibility for their drivers and the trucks.) While that legal battle is being fought, no other port can realistically utilize a similar plan. But if the loophole is closed, the bottom will fall out of the ATA’s case, opening the way for cleaner, more equitable ports across the country.
Dirty Jackass Jake is a shill for the longshore and teamsters. This issue has nothing to do with the environment.
When are you going to call Liz or Yoko at the Guild and organize the scab Stranger?
I know it’s wonky as hell, but I’d love for The Stranger to beat up on the Seattle Port.
For one, I have been lead to understand, but cannot cite – that Seattle’s Port Authority is the the only major port on this coast that’s is supported with tax money.
Every other port we “compete” with is profitable.
Again – I don’t know for a fact that this is true, but if it is I’d like to know why.
I am one of the public information officers for the Port of Seattle, and I’d like to correct some of the inaccurate information in Jake’s postings on this issue. I reached out to Jake yesterday and asked for a chance to speak to him about the issue before he posted again, but was not given that opportunity.
First, the proposal before the AAPA Legislative Policy Committee was not a Tay Yoshitani-driven proposal. The chair of the LPC, who oversees Massport, put forth the issue in response to ports across the country who asked for it to be considered. He attended the meeting as the representative for the North Pacific Ports Caucus – there are six caucuses, which represent all ports in North America, including Canada. The group agreed to language that said, in effect, we are strongly committed to the environmental programs that are already in place at our ports and are showing significant success. We do not believe a change in the law is necessary to achieve the strong air quality goals established by each community.
Secondly, the law in question – the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, or F4A, does not have a “loophole” that needs to be closed. The law currently allows states or ports to regulate trucking for safety issues. The proposal is to expand the law so that regulation could occur for security, congestion, and environmental issues as well. The AAPA committee noted that other tools are available to achieve the environmental goals we are pursuing. The Port of Seattle program is succeeding – 42 older trucks have been scrapped to date; truckers are being offered financial assistance through a variety of programs. The Long Beach program is on pace to meet their goals a full two years ahead of schedule – again, under the existing law.
We did not hire a lobbying firm to lobby against this issue. McBee Strategic serves as our federal representative on all federal issues that affect the port; I’m happy to discuss that with Jake further as space doesn’t allow it here.
Finally, Mr. Yoshitani is not “fighting against reform.” He has championed the port’s involvement in the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, an international agreement that is reducing emissions in and around our harbors not just from trucks, but from all forms of equipment needed to move the goods to markets across the U.S. The Port of Seattle’s commitment to environmental programs is evident in the multiple effective programs underway throughout our organization, and you can find more information about them at http://www.portseattle.org.
Thanks,
Charla Skaggs
Gee — one of the Port’s 22 public relations staff is commenting in? What are the other 21 staffers doing? Posting under pseudonyms?
The other 21 port pr hacks are cleaning their shorts. They thought they were home free because no press were covering the Port of Seattle anymore. Suddenly they have to wake up and start spinning again. Good job Jake!
Notice what the Port’s PR flak and Yoshitani are doing. They are arguing that the Port of Seattle and Ports all around the country SHOULD NOT have the authority to set environmental, security and safety standards for ports trucks. The ability to set environmental standards on polluting trucks without getting suited by the ATA, sorry we don’t want that.
They are not just parroting the position of the trucking industry and Walmart. They are leading the charge.
Well, the PR flak says Yoshitani’s not. But then notice what she does. She puts forth all the reasons the law should be left the same. She so careful mirrors the talking points from industry and the AAPA resolution that it leaves the impression she wrote those talking points herself.
As for her claim about not hiring McBee to lobbying, it’s a lie. Look up McBee’s 2009 3rd quarter lobbying disclosure form for the Port of Seattle. It’s in black and white as required by federal law: http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch…. It’s not good form for the PR person to lie. It kind of makes you doubt anything else she’s saying.
Yoshitani has consistently championed the industry’s position on the trucks issue. He used to work for them as a ‘consultant’ and he’ll be richly rewarded we he goes back to them after his stint as the highest paid port official in the country. His commitment to environment is as thin as the paper the Port’s endless press releases are printed on.
@3
Dirty Jackass Jake isn’t interested in the facts. He’s a propagandist.
Jake, when are you going to call Liz or Yoko at the Guild and organize the scab Stranger?
Aren’t the Commissioners supposed to make decisions about this kind of stuff? Isn’t that why we elected them? For all the hot air Ms Skaggs is blowing, I didn’t notice her deny that Yoshitani voted in favor of the AAPA resolution. And if Skaggs’ comments are any reflection, it sure appears to be the official policy of the Port.
Dirty Jackass Jake coordinates his posts with the longshore and teamsters, as this comments thread attests.
Jake, when are you going to call Liz or Yoko at the Guild and organize the scab Stranger?
Careful, Jake. Being a watchdog of Port shenanigans is a full time job. But, righteous work for the public.
Jake — you should get on the other story of how teh Port has screwed the envornmental movement. They are just about to through 210 “green taxis” onto the street by making Yellow cab the preferred port taxi service. All of the current Stita cab drivers have environmentally green cars and none of yellow cabs have been converted. SHAME on the Port of Seattle!
where do these morons get that truckers want the green coalition of idiots to speak on our behalf or we are with them on their stupid plan? I own my truck and have been doing this work for twenty years. sure we need a rate increase along with other things but a ban on the owner-operator trucker. do they think every driver out here wants their right to ownership taken away? this is a stupid argument that we create the air pollution because we as individuals own our equipment. the facts are most trucks out here are not polluting the environment like these GREEN Wackos want the public to believe. this is clearly being done for one reason only that has nothing to do with clean air, the teamsters with their partners want to socialize the harbor trucking by eliminating our ownership rights in order to make their job easier to unionize the new employee company drivers they want to create once we are gone. the facts are, NO TRUCKERS HERE AT THIS PORT STAND WITH THIS GROUP ON ANY PART OF THEIR STUPID PLAN TO TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHT TO OWNERSHIP.
Heather Weiner, a consultant for the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports is another snake hiding under the green coalition rock that is on the Change-to-Win/Teamsters bankroll! Anything that comes out of her mouth is scripted or controled by their leadership censorship.
Snakes hiding under green coalition rocks…that sounds hot. Tay Yoshitani, not.
Heather Weiner is a lap dancer for C2W who holds the gate key to the GREEN COALITION of PHONIES!!!!!!!!!!