The port-smog story mistold

The Contra Costa Times, covering a story of Port of Oakland air pollution, supposedly of interest to its readers, missed the crucial political fact of the year on this issue: that Gov. Schwarzenegger, vetoed the bill that would have provided the most money for air clean up, by putting a surcharge on all full containers passing through the port. The additional fact that Gov. Sarah Palin, Barfly-AK, had something to do with persuading him to veto the bill, was also missed.The Contra Costa Times was, until recently, owned by Knight-Ridder, which sold it to the McClatchy Co, which sold it to Denver-based MediaNews Group. Moody's has just again downgraded MediaNews's credit rating and pointed to significant challenges in the chain's near future.Meanwhile, according to Project Finance Magazine, on Dec. 9, five multi-leteral export credit agencies pledged $5.25 billion for widening and improving the Panama Canal, another blow to westcoast ports. Shipping by sea remains the cheapest means of transport.Another aspect of the problem of ports, pollution, and the money to improve air quality around the ports, is that the planned "inland ports," warehousing and truck depots in the San Joaquin Valley reached by rail from the ports, have lost one big pot of expected public funding as a result of Schwarzenegger's veto.12-14-08Contra Costa TimesPort air pollution riles regulators, neighbors...Denis Cuffhttp://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_11228462Community groups and clean air advocates and regulators were counting on big commitments from the Port of Oakland this fall to slash diesel truck pollution that has contributed to a higher cancer risk in West Oakland.Now they are fuming, saying the city-owned seaport has pulled back rather than pay out for cleaner air, and public health as well as the port's long term financial health may suffer as a result.The tensions are ramping up as ports and truckers struggle to meet new California pollution requirements in the midst of hard economic times sweeping over the shipping industry.Oakland port commissioners voted Nov. 19 to indefinitely postpone a planned $5 million contribution to a government pool of grants for owners of old trucks to install diesel soot filters required by the state for trucks that want to keep visiting ports after Jan. 1, 2010.Without enough clean trucks, port business could be severely disrupted, air quality regulators say, because hundreds of the 2,000 trucks that use the port are believed to need pollution upgrades.Port commissioners also postponed a Dec. 2 vote on a master plan to cut port pollution, and a container fee that would make companies that ship the goods pay millions of dollars annually to finance pollution reduction measures for diesel trucks, ships and trains.'Pulling back'"We see the port as essentially pulling back from their commitments to deliver cleaner air," said Jack Broadbent, chief executive officer of the nine-county Bay Area Air Quality Management District. "We are extremely disappointed that the port did not follow through." One environmental leader was harsher."These delays in reducing pollution protect the interests of shipping companies and their customers, like Wal-Mart and Costco, at the expense of public health in Oakland," said Brian Beveridge, co-director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project.Port officials said the troubled economy is hitting the shipping industry so hard that the port, a landlord for many interrelated maritime businesses, has a fiscal responsibility to reassess how it spends to reduce pollution."We haven't in any way abandoned our commitments to air quality," said Richard Sinkoff, the port's manager of environmental programs and planning. "The central issue for the port is its financial health and making sure that the benefits from it can accrue."The port is the region's biggest concentrated source of diesel soot, which can penetrate deep into the lungs and contribute to a variety of health problems, including asthma, cancer and heart disease, regulators say.In March, the California Air Resources Board released a risk analysis that concluded the 22,000 residents of West Oakland face a cancer risk some three times higher than the rest of the Bay Area because of air pollution, much of it from traffic on local roads and freeways, but some from port traffic. The pollution also escalates cancer risk to a lesser degree in much of western Alameda and Contra Costa counties, officials said.Pool createdVowing to cut pollution risks quickly, the California Air Resources Board, the Bay Area air pollution district and the port each planned to chip in $5 million to create a $15 million pool for grants to clean up diesel truck models from 1994 to 2003. The maximum grant would be up to $15,000 per truck for soot filters that can cost up to $20,000, leaving a large share for truckers to pick up.The grant program will go ahead, but if the $5 million in port money is not restored, fewer trucks will receive help to upgrade, When they balked at approving the money last month, port commissioners discussed the dark cloud over port finances, and a dispute arose about who should bear the burden of truck filter costs not covered by grants.Some of the many independent truckers who do business at the port complained the filter costs are an extreme hardship on their modest incomes.To solve the problem, the truckers and Teamsters union representatives have urged the port commission to require trucking companies to put the independent truckers on their payroll as full-time employees. If that is done, it's up to the trucking companies to absorb the costs.But other truckers have told the port commission they want to remain contractors to keep their freedom as independent businessmen, even if it means absorbing the cost to clean up trucks. As independent contractors, the truckers cannot legally be organized by labor unions.The labor issue remains unresolved as the port waits for a study to be issued next year on how to address the truckers' status. In the meantime, air pollution officials said they are growing more anxious that trucks using the port may not be ready for the 2010 deadline to clean up."We need the port to show leadership instead of coming up with more reasons for delays," said Mark Ross, a Martinez city councilman on the Bay Area air pollution board. "They have lagged behind Southern California ports in cleaning up." Port officials acknowledge they are concerned about the clean truck deadline, but they said that some cargo owners are considering giving financial assistance for truck upgrades or replacements."I think we'll hear more about partners that are receptive to helping," said Tim Leong, a port environmental scientist. "They understand that operating green is part of doing business at the port."10-3-08Medialinklog.comSchwarzenegger kills US$30 container tax as 'worsening situation' http://www.medilinklog.com/english/news/25.htmlCALIFORNIA's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed the US$30 per TEU container tax bill because it stood to "worsen the situation by mandating added costs on business".Said Governor Schwarzenegger: "Since this bill was introduced, container fees have been raised by the ports at a rate 67 per cent higher than the fee contemplated in this bill to pay for many of the same programmes."The bill does not include amendments requested by my administration that would address critical shortcomings. I encourage the legislature to develop legislation that provides proper guidance, oversight and accountability," he said.Long Beach Democratic Senator Alan Lowenthal, who has tried and failed three times to enact container taxes, said: "There is a dark cloud over our heads and that dark cloud is cancer. The governor could have shrunken or eliminated that cloud, but choose to side with out-of-state corporate executives instead."Senator Lowenthal also blamed Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, for pressing Governor Schwarzenegger to kill the bill. Opposition also came from Hawaiian Governor Linda Lingle the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which also saw the bill as risking the diversion of ships to other ports.The tax would have been levied at Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland where on all laden imported containers.12-12-08Rocky Mountain NewsMoody's: Denver Post owner has higher risk of loan default...John Rebchookhttp://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/12/moodys-issues-rating-downgrade-for-post-parent/...Moody's ratings actions affected about $962 million of debt of MediaNews, a company with about $1.2 billion of annual revenues. The rating service downgraded the debt for MediaNews Group's Corporate Family to Caa3 - three notches below the previous rating of B3.The New York City-based rating agency said it calculates MediaNews leverage as more than eight times debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).The Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy as it feared violating its credit covenants of nine times EBITDA.The Moody's report said the privately held MediaNews has seen a 16 percent decline of total sales during the third quarter and has a "significant weakening in its liquidity profile." It added the company has a senior credit agreement coming due in December 2009 that poses a "refinancing risk."