A federal judge threw a new twist into the battle over clean-trucks programs at Southern California ports, ruling the Port of Long Beach violated state law by reaching a settlement with the trucking industry without first performing an environmental impact study.
U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder’s ruling Monday says the Oct. 19, 2009, settlement with the American Trucking Associations violated the California Environmental Quality Act.
ATA sees the ruling as a procedural matter in which Long Beach must address the EIR issue. However, Judge Snyder’s ruling does not indicate the Long Beach program must be scrapped, said Curtis Whalen, executive director of ATA’s intermodal conference.
