The settlement of a lawsuit Monday between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations should serve to expedite the introduction of low-polluting trucks into the harbor, the port’s executive director said. Richard Steinke was responding to a charge by the National Resources Defense Council that Long Beach abandoned its clean-truck goals by settling the ATA suit. The neighboring Port of Los Angeles, by contrast, is continuing with the litigation. … NRDC’s support of the concession programs is based on a strategy promoted by organized labor that would open the door to unionization of harbor truck drivers, most of which are independent contractors.
