LONG BEACH, CA - The Long Beach (Calif.) Clean Cities Coalition held its quarterly stakeholder meeting on April 28 at the Port of Long Beach. In addition to Coalition and stakeholder business, two staff members from the Port of Long Beach's Environmental Planning Division provided the group with a presentation to discuss some environmental initiatives under the Clean Air Action Plan. Thomas Jelenic, Assistant Director of Environmental Planning, with Rose Siengsubcharti, Environmental Specialist Associate, provided an update on such initiatives at the Port, which include the Clean Trucks Program and the Technology Advancement Program.

Per Jelenic's presentation, the Clean Trucks Program calls for drayage truck owners operating at the port to replace old, polluting trucks to reduce truck-related air pollution by 80 percent by 2012. The Clean Trucks Program includes truck registration requirements to identify clean trucks, banning trucks with older, high-polluting engines, and will ban all trucks that don't meet 2007 emissions standards from operating at the Port by 2012.

In a recent data report, 5,657 2007-compliant trucks were added to the Drayage Truck Registry (DTR) in the past two years, averaging 235 monthly. The data also reported a slight increase in the number of natural gas trucks at the port from February 2009 to early April 2011, corresponding to a decrease in diesel trucks.  Click here for more information on the Clean Trucks Program.

Siengsubcharti updated attendees on Technology Advancement Program (TAP) projects. The TAP was developed by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to support new technologies in the port environment. Completed projects include but are not limited to the:

• Development and demonstration of the world's first hybrid tugboat

• Demonstration of a fly-wheel energy storage system designed to provide efficiency in fuel consumption and emissions reduction in rubber tire gantry cranes

• Development and demonstration of a diesel-electric hybrid yard truck for cargo-handling operations.

Current projects include but are not limited to the:

• Development and demonstration of a zero-emission on-road and off-road truck equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell/plug-in hybrid electric system, currently in installation process and expected to deliver in the summer

• Demonstration of an advanced diesel particulate filter for cargo-handling equipment.

Since 2007, both ports have and continue to work together on a wide variety of TAP projects. Click here for more information on past and current TAP projects.

Vasken Yardemian from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) gave attendees an update on available grants:

• Carl Moyer Program, $25 million in funding, accepting applications until June 7.

• Surplus Off-Road Opt-in for NOx (SOON) Program, $60 million in funding to assist in the purchase of low-emission heavy-duty engine technologies to achieve near-term NOx emission reductions from off-road equipment. Accepting applications until May 6.

The Long Beach Clean Cities Coalition is managed by the City of Long Beach with participation from varied stakeholders. Coalition stakeholders include local representatives from governmental, private industry, and nonprofit groups with the shared goal of using alternatives to petroleum to power their transportation needs. The next quarterly meeting is on July 28 at 2 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.

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