Washington Free Press  Washington State's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
home |  subscribe/donate |  article archive |  issue archive |  organization |  volunteer/submit |  activism calendar |  contact us
CLIMATE      SPORTS      SUBSTANCES      RIGHT BRAIN      MEDIA      TRUTH      LIES      MILITARY      HEALTH      BUSINESS      POETRY      TRANSPORTATION      IMMIGRATION      WORKPLACE      ELECTIONS      WORLD      TECHNOLOGY      POLITICS      ENERGY      EDUCATION      AROUND WASHINGTON      ENVIRONMENT      CULTURE      WAR      ECONOMY      HISTORY      RIGHTS      LAW      ACTIVISM      MEDICINE      MARIJUANA      SEATTLE      CARTOONS      WASHINGTON      VACCINES      TACOMA      GENETIC ENGINEERING      CORPORATIONS      FLUORIDATION      WIRELESS RADIATION      MINOR PARTIES      SPOKANE      CLIMATE      SPORTS      SUBSTANCES      RIGHT BRAIN      MEDIA      TRUTH      LIES      MILITARY      HEALTH      BUSINESS      POETRY      TRANSPORTATION      IMMIGRATION      WORKPLACE      ELECTIONS      WORLD      TECHNOLOGY      POLITICS      ENERGY      EDUCATION      AROUND WASHINGTON      ENVIRONMENT      CULTURE      WAR      ECONOMY      HISTORY      RIGHTS      LAW      ACTIVISM      MEDICINE      MARIJUANA      SEATTLE      CARTOONS      WASHINGTON      VACCINES      TACOMA      GENETIC ENGINEERING      CORPORATIONS      FLUORIDATION      WIRELESS RADIATION      MINOR PARTIES      SPOKANE     
search WFP via Google
PEACE & JUSTICE CALENDAR
compiled by
Jean Buskin

November
December
January
All Months


Cartoons of
Dan McConnell

featuring
Tiny the Worm


Cartoons of
David Logan

The People's Comic


Cartoons of
John Jonik

Inking Truth to Power

Latest Posts
click topics to search past content

MILITARY

Former US Attorney General Testifies for Plowshares Activists Ramsey Clark supports WA anti-nuke movement Ground Zero Center (Nov 28, 2010)

HEALTH

Hunger Up 36% in Washington State from Children's Alliance, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

POLITICS

The Progressive Tea Party? Maybe when it comes to surveillance issues Doug Collins, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010)
Obama Wooing 'Economic Royalists' FDR was way gutsier Norman Solomon, cartoon by David Logan (Nov 28, 2010)

SUBSTANCES

The Dirty Secret Behind 'Demon Tobacco' Regulation doesn't cover cigarette additives Doug Collins, cartoons by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010)

EDUCATION

America’s Education Gender Gap Bill Costello, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

ELECTIONS

Washington State Votes Against Change Janice Van Cleve, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010)

FOLLOW FILE updates

DeCourseys v. Real Estate Giant; Amazon Prevails in Customer Privacy Doug Collins, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

ENVIRONMENT

Poll: Southwest WA Supports Conservation Climate Solutions, cartoon by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010)

CULTURE

What Color Is Your Santa? holiday cartoons by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

MEDICINE

WA Doctors Tell McKenna: Put Patients Before Politics Doctors for America (Oct 25, 2010)

ACTIVISM

No, Higher Consciousness Won’t Save Us Charles Reich got his second book right Norman Solomon (Oct 23, 2010)

LAW

Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons in WA ACLU of WA, with cartoon by John Jonik (Oct 23, 2010)

RIGHTS

Report: Racial Profiling Pervasive Across America OneAmerica (Oct 23, 2010)

WORLD

Port Townsend Food Co-op Rejects Israel Boycott Jefferson County BDS, cartoon by George Jartos (Oct 23, 2010)

HISTORY

A Bellhop in the Swingin' Seventies Overly detailed resume plus cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Oct 20, 2010)
Johnny Horizon's Draft Physical Can he avoid Vietnam? John Merriam (Oct 20, 2010)

AROUND WASHINGTON

Gregoire passes the hatchet; Bears love garbage; Where does the PUD travel to? featuring cartoons by Dan McConnell (Oct 20, 2010)

ECONOMY

Now's the Time to Expand Social Security Good for both Americans and American companies Steven Hill (Sept 9, 2010)

WAR

Obama's Speech for Endless War Normon Solomon, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Sept 9, 2010)

ENERGY

Yellowstone: The #1 National Security Threat Unless we turn Wyoming into a new energy Mecca Martin Nix (Sept 9, 2010)

TECHNOLOGY

Biodefense, Biolabs and Bugs Seattle City Council takes an important first step to safety Labwatch.org (Aug 9, 2010)

WORKPLACE

Teenage Microsoft Sweatshop 15-hour shifts under poor conditions at Chinese factory from the National Labor Committee (May 16, 2010)

IMMIGRATION

Why US Immigration Policy Needs Tweaking Bill Costello, cartoon by David Logan (May 16, 2010)
Arizona Immigration Brouhaha Various opinions from near and far, cartoons by Logan and McConnell (May 2, 2010)

TRANSPORTATION

The Coming Microcar Revolution Martin Nix (May 16, 2010)

POETRY

A Poetic Look at Tacoma Glass Art Museum; a limer-ICK Gerald McBreen (Mar 28, 2010)
Fall Is For Falling Out Of Love, etc. three poems Bob Markey (Mar 29, 2010)

BUSINESS

Who Rules America? Corporate conglomeration is leading to neofeudalism Don Monkerud, cartoon by John Jonik (Mar 27, 2010)

TRUTH

Architects and Engineers Ask for New Look at 9/11 Doug Collins (Feb 20, 2010)

MEDIA

Is Olympic Coverage Sexist? Media coverage rarely gives women equal treatment Univ. of Alberta (Jan 24, 2010)

RIGHT BRAIN

Why I Don't Come at Christmas Anymore not-so-jolly Saint Nick (Dec 18, 2009) Santa Gets Political art by Ambrosavage, Lande, and Dees (Dec 17, 2009)

SPORTS

A People's History of Sports BOOK REVIEW Doreen McGrath (posted July 24, 2009)

CLIMATE

Cashing In On Earth's Cycles: Part 3 Alan Cheetham & Richard Kirby (posted July 24, 2009)
Obama: How Serious About Climate Change? Doug Collins (posted July 24, 2009)


What is the Washington Free Press?

The Washington Free Press exists to carry under-reported news and thought-provoking opinion out to a wider audience. We specialize in news related to Washington State. In order to get the news out, we need your readership and support for basic costs. That's why we ask you to please subscribe and/or donate. If you would like to help us with writing, editing, or "scouting" for writers and articles, please contact us.

Doug Collins, editor

Support the WA Free Press. Community journalism needs your readership and support. Please subscribe and/or donate.


posted Jan. 24, 2010    Bookmark and Share

Environmental Groups Blast Port of Seattle CEO

Tay Yoshitani attempts to gut Congressional clean air efforts

by Heather Weiner, Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports

The Port of Seattle's CEO, Tay Yoshitani, is taking on a large national coalition of environmental groups, labor unions, the mayors of New York, Los Angeles, and Oakland, and many Democratic leaders in a fight over proposed environmental legislation in Congress. On January 25, say insiders at the American Association of Port Authorities, Yoshitani is expected to ask the group's policy committee to formally oppose legislation that would empower ports to set environmental, safety, security and operational standards for port trucking companies doing business on their property. 

"This is unconscionable," said Brady Montz, Chair of the Seattle Group of the Sierra Club, "For years, the Port of Seattle has claimed that our outdated federal laws limit their ability to protect Seattle's neighborhoods from polluting trucks; and now it turns out that Tay Yoshitani is working behind the scenes to prevent the Port from even having the option to enforce environmental standards for trucking companies."

Yoshitani's move isolates him from major American ports that have embraced the need to grow greenly and have sought solutions to the deadly air pollution and other security and congestion concerns that put local communities at risk. Yoshitani -- who at $330,000 a year is the highest paid port official in the country -- is backed by his former employer, the National Association of Waterfront Employers, as well as other industry lobbies like the American Trucking Association. His views are also aligned with corporate retail shippers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target.

The Port of Los Angeles recently implemented a comprehensive clean truck program that provides incentives to trucking companies to invest in green fleets. The American Trucking Association won a federal court injunction in a pending case against essential features of the program citing an arcane statute that exempts trucking from necessary port regulations that could reduce emissions from heavy duty rigs by 80 percent. That injunction has left contract truck drivers, who average $10-11 an hour, in charge of replacing and maintaining our nation’s 100,000 port trucks, 95 percent of which fail to meet U.S. EPA emissions standards. Congress is now considering closing the legal loophole in federal motor carrier statutes that the Virginia-based trucking lobby is relying on, at the formal urging of the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Oakland, and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

In Seattle, a coalition of environmental, labor and economic justice organizations are also educating lawmakers about why this loophole must be closed. Nationally, an amendment to the Federal Aviation Authorization Administration Act is supported by a long list of mayors, members of Congress, air quality districts, and a blue-green coalition of over a hundred local, state and national organizations committed to addressing the problems caused by the port trucking industry.

“Mr. Yoshitani’s profit-before-people tactics are appalling. While he keeps Seattle in a race to the bottom, other ports are finding ways to compete and grow responsibly in the 21st century,” said Heather Weiner of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, a national alliance of public health, environmental, community, labor and faith-based organizations. “He should be working on solutions to the dead-end jobs and deadly pollution at our port complex, not perpetuating them.” 

Last October, Yoshitani announced that the Port of Seattle had not taken a formal position on the amendment and the Port of Seattle's commissioners have not approved Yoshitani's anti-environmental positions in a public vote. However, according to lobbying disclosure forms, the Port of Seattle was paying a K-street lobbying firm to fight against it. The firm, McBee Strategic Consulting, gets up to $300,000/year from taxpayer funds for its work. McBee, one of the top ten firms working against climate change legislation, also represents the American Trucking Association (ATA), which is leading the industry's fight against the legislative proposal and is also the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles' Clean Truck Program. McBee was also implicated in former Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore's ethics scandals when it was revealed the firm helped Dinsmore get a paid internship for his daughter.

Yoshitani was a lobbyist and Senior Policy Advisor at the National Association of Waterfront Employers in 2004-2007, before he came to the port. He has been criticized for seeking a raise during the recession even though he is the highest paid port director in the country.

Locally, the Port of Seattle has pointed to the ATA’s lawsuit as a barrier to implementing a comprehensive port trucking program here. The Port of Seattle’s current truck program sets relatively weak air pollution standards, ignores exploitive workplace conditions, does little to deal with trucking impacts on the South Seattle neighborhoods of Delridge, Georgetown and South Park, and forces workers to personally bear the costs of new clean air technology, parking regulations, and other requirements.

Under the proposal for federal legislation, local government would be allowed to design programs tailored to local needs to meet at a minimum federal standards of regulation of environmental, labor and security.

Local political support for this regulation includes:
•Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club
•Community Coalition for Environmental Justice
•Council on American-Islamic Relations, Washington Chapter
•Church Council of Greater Seattle
•Honorable Rob Holland, Port of Seattle Commissioner
•International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 19
•Martin Luther King County Labor Council
•People for Puget Sound
•Puget Sound Sage
•One America
•Seattle/King County Building and Construction Trades Council
•UFCW, Local 21
•Unite Here, Local 8
•Washington Community Action Network

Contacts: cleanandsafeports.org and 206/218-7194.

Bookmark and Share