Clean-air program offers cash to get old trucks off the road
Brown is an independent operator, and buying a newer truck that wouldn't cough out a trail of blue smoke everywhere he went was not within his means — until now.
A program implemented this year by the South Carolina Ports Authority, in conjunction with the state's Department of Health and Environmental Control and with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency, made it feasible for him to scrap the Kenworth for a 2004 Volvo that not only produces significantly less toxic emissions but also gets a couple of more miles to the gallon.
Similar to the federal Cash for Clunkers initiative in 2009, the Charleston air cleanup program, and others like it nationwide, offers truckers a $5,000 incentive plus the scrap value of their truck, if it was made before 1994, to buy a 2004 or newer model truck, said Byron Miller, a spokesman for the state Ports Authority.
James Jack, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation in Sacramento, says 90% of the drivers who haul freight from the nation's ports are independent, responsible for their own trucks.
"There's a whole lot of drivers out there. The reason why they're holding onto their older trucks is they really can't afford a newer truck," Brown said.
Programs providing cash and low-interest loans for newer trucks also are underway at ports in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.; Oakland and Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif.; Houston; New York/New Jersey; and Norfolk, Va., Jack says. The programs started early last year, with more coming on board in January.
The twist in Charleston and Norfolk is that the programs are voluntary, Jack said. The others are requiring owners of older trucks to phase them out in order to continue to use them at the ports, he said.
The EPA's new SmartWay initiative, which provides much of the funding for these programs, focuses on trucks that make short hauls from ports to distribution centers and railheads, because many of them are older and dirtier than most trucks used on long trips, Jack said.
Cash For Clunkers Program - News
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