The Northwest Seaport Alliance has announced that it is proud to have received the American Association of Port Authorities’ 2019 Environmental Improvement Award for it’s Clean Truck Program. You can read the full release, excerpted below, here.
The NWSA Clean Truck Program was one of the initiatives developed through the groundbreaking Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy. In 2008, the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, British Columbia, collectively set a goal to implement clean truck standards by January 2018.
Targeted to reduce air pollution in the Puget Sound region, the innovative program earned the Award of Distinction in the comprehensive environmental management category for successfully implementing a voluntary clean trucks initiative.
As of Jan. 1, 2019, the Clean Truck Program requires all trucks serving the NWSA international container terminals to have a 2007 or newer engine or certified equivalent emissions control system. With newer engines emitting 90% less diesel particulate matter (DPM), the program has reduced the pollutant load on our neighboring communities by 33.4 tons of DPM per year. The reduction of diesel emissions helps decrease the risk of asthma, cancer and heart disease.
Acknowledging only 53% of trucks were compliant for the original Jan. 1, 2018 deadline, the NWSA Managing Members voted to extend the deadline through December 2018 to give drivers more time to prepare. Throughout the year, the NWSA partnered with lawmakers and various agencies like the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington State Department of Ecology, African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest, City of Seattle, and Washington Trucking Association to offer financial and training resources.
We wrote about this program early in the process in our prior post, “TRUCK REPLACEMENT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE AIR QUALITY SCRAPS 200TH TRUCK.” We congratulate Northwest Seaport Alliance for winning this award and appreciate the effort to improve air quality in Seattle and Tacoma.