WHEREAS, some 1,800 heavy duty trucks moving containers around the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma are responsible for at least 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from Puget Sound maritime sources and significant amounts of diesel particulate matter in workplaces and densely populated neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, diesel particulate matter is widely recognized as an important cause of severe health effects including cancer, bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory ailments in neighborhoods with high diesel emissions; and

WHEREAS, some 1,800 workers who drive the trucks around the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, are classified as independent contractors and personally absorb the costs of rising fuel prices, parking, licensing, permits, maintenance, health care and insurance all while making poverty-level wages; and

WHEREAS, the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma recently approved a Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy that sets clean air standards for drayage trucks; and

WHEREAS, the Port of Los Angeles recently adopted a Clean Trucks Program that will significantly reduce diesel particulate pollution while providing family wage jobs and clean and safe working conditions for drivers by making those drivers employees of trucking companies; and

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Washington Blue-Green Alliance supports the Port of Los Angeles' Clean Truck Program and urges the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma to adopt a similar program that addresses neighborhood concerns, family wage jobs, port security, and clean air.