Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/111763
Capitol Hill Report ���The Port���s rules challenged by ATA, which range from a requirement that carriers display Port-mandated information on the sides of trucks entering and leaving the Port, to a requirement that trucks conform to the Port���s off-street parking rules even when not on Port property, have nothing to do with improving air quality,��� ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said. ���We are pleased the Supreme Court will review the erroneous decision of the appellate court.��� ���Under the Clean Truck Program, industry and the Port have succeeded in working together to replace outdated equipment with new, efficient trucks,��� Graves said. ���We are proud to have participated in a program that improved air quality. That success means there is no need to interfere with Congress��� intention that the motor carrier industry be shaped by the forces of competition, under a uniform federal regulatory environment, and not by state and local governments that have their own ideas about how the industry should be structured. ATA is confident that the Supreme Court ��� which has repeatedly instructed that Congress���s deregulatory and preemptive intent is to be construed broadly ��� will agree.��� CHANGING LANES ���ATA has challenged these provisions because we believe they are incompatible with Congress��� command that state and local governments may not regulate motor carrier decisions relating to prices, routes and services,��� he said. ���Our objections to the Port���s program have always been business-related, and not, as certain reactionary groups have asserted, out of a desire to cling to polluting ways.��� The Port���s Clean Truck Program, without these onerous restrictions, has improved air quality, a fact environmental groups have repeatedly conceded. 28 capitol hill report 0313 cl.indd 2 March 2013 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM 2/5/13 9:29 AM