Trucking firms line up for ports' clean-air programs

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Following weeks of worry about whether they could meet their own deadlines, Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials said Friday that they were closing in on having enough trucking companies lined up to get their clean-air programs off the ground in October.

Following weeks of worry about whether they could meet their own deadlines, Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials said Friday that they were closing in on having enough trucking companies lined up to get their clean-air programs off the ground in October.

The landmark anti-pollution efforts seek initially to rid the nation's two busiest container ports of the worst polluting trucks, which are at least 20 years old. Both ports' plans, which take different approaches to how the truck fleets will be organized, still face many hurdles, including a federal lawsuit.
A shortage of trucks ready to go on the Oct. 1 start date would have resulted in "utter chaos" at the ports, said Jack Kyser, senior economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said the port had received applications from more than 120 carriers representing more than 8,000 trucks, including more than 5,400 that could be ready Oct. 1.
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