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$40 million in grants available for drivers operating in CA trade corridors

Thousands of owner-operators who run through California’s four major trade corridors may be eligible for a diesel engine grant program that’s part of the state’s billion dollar Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District will accept applications from now until early September for a $40.5 million wave of grants to replace trucks, replace engines and retrofit engines with a diesel particulate filter.

Several categories of funding are available, including:

$50,000 to replace 2003 or older trucks with new trucks that meet 2007 emissions standard;
$20,000 to replace a 2003 or older engine with a new engine that meets 2007 standards; or
$5,000 to retrofit a 2006 or older truck with an ARB-verified level 3 diesel particulate filter.

Applications must come from truck operators who are registered in California, who drive exclusively in California and have spent at least 50 percent of their miles traveling on the state’s four trade corridors during the past two years, including the Central Valley, the Bay Area, the Los Angeles/Inland Empire or the San Diego/border corridors.

“With 95 million miles traveled each day through the Valley, mainly along Highway 99 and Interstate 5 corridors, these funds will serve a much-needed purpose in helping clean up diesel exhaust emissions,” said Seyed Sadredin, the Air District’s executive director and air pollution control officer.

For more information on the incentive program and program applications, visit the “grants and Incentives” section at www.valleyair.org or email weberip@valleyair.org, or contact the Emission Reduction Incentive Program at 800-SMOG-INFO (800-766-4463).

Todd DeYoung, the air district’s supervising air quality specialist, told both Land Line and Land Line Now that the air quality district understands that older trucks run in the Golden State belong to small businesses and owner operators rather than large fleets.

“One of our main missions is to target owner operators and small businesses,” DeYoung said. “We’ve been focusing a lot of our marketing toward small-business operations.”

DeYoung said the district did not necessarily target owner-operators. Publicity for the applications was generated by trade publications and meetings with truck dealerships who have brought in applicants.

The Air Quality District recently published a list of about 70 $50,000 truck replacement grants and nearly 400 $5,000 diesel engine retrofit grants conditionally approved under California’s early diesel emission reduction program. CARB did not require the early grants to be handed out through an open application process, and DeYoung said the air district relied on applications left over from previous grants.

Both programs rate truck engines by oxides of nitrogen and diesel particulate combined with miles driven. The air district judges each individual truck based on its own merit, DeYoung said, no matter how many trucks a given company applies for.

The district understands that large truck fleets typically replace trucks on a shorter cycle than smaller companies, he said.

“One of the main tenets of the program was to ensure the single owner operators had an equal footing, and had an equal opportunity to fund these programs,” DeYoung told Land Line. “Because it’s looked at on a truck-by-truck basis, it really evens the playing field. If they’re keeping their trucks only four and five years, they’re not going to score as high. Even if they run a lot more miles, they’re generally not going to score as high as an earlier model, or an old truck that runs even a minimal amount of miles.

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine

Western Express Shirks Responsibility

Western Express Shirks Responsibility

Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 5:20 pm, a team of white glove drivers were in the sleeper legally parked on the front row at the Flying J in Franklin KY waiting to load on Monday June 9. They were in the sleeper watching TV when the truck was violently hit from the rear, not once but twice! The impacts were so severe that they were thrown forward out of their seats at the dinabunk and their coffee pot was thrown over. The truck was shoved five feet forward, sliding the truck with the emergency brake set.

The team quickly exited the truck to find that Western Express truck #5658 driver pulling a flatbed trailer had hit them with the corner of his trailer, backed up and hit them again while trying to get into the spot next to them. The team dialed 911 and a county sheriff arrived only to tell them that he could not write a report on private property according to state law.

He did provide the team with a Civilian Collision Report form, which they had the Western Express driver fill out and sign. That report included driver's personal information and truck identifying information along with Western Express's insurance carrier information.

The team identified that the damage to the truck box was extensive.

Report from team drivers: Visual Damage to Truck

- Left dock bumper and bumper guard twisted driver side rear:

- Light above it (stop and turn)

- Light above that (Back up light)

-Drain tube & rubber under floor bent and rubber torn

-Bottom corner twisted and corner box support with grab handle & Lights twisted and bent half to three quarters of the way up toward top of box

-Rear Driver side panel bent outward and creased up to top of box

-silver box rail under panel is bent outward

-hinges on back door bent and door damaged.

-Door seal and door will not open

-right side marker lights on box not working.

-Possible lift gate problems due to the location of the damage.

Due to the damage to the truck box, the team had to cancel the load they were dispatched on to pick up. The load was to be temperature controlled and the damage would not allow accurate temperature control to protect the load. The load would have paid $2483.90. This revenue was lost. The team had already deadheaded 228 miles to be in position to pick up the load. They deadheaded an additional 399 miles to the box repair shop in Goshen IN after the accident. This put them behind on cost of fuel. Supreme Repair was the only bright light in this fiasco, working overtime and on the weekend to complete the repairs quickly.

The owner contacted Western Express where he was talked to as if he had been the one to hit the truck! The person he spoke with was rude and unhelpful telling him that Western Express paid out of pocket for accident repair up to a certain amount. They also told him it would be 30 days at the soonest before they would pay for the repairs and to send them copies of the repair bills. Supreme Repair sent Western Express three separate faxes of the repair bills as did the owner of the truck, but each time the faxes were sent, Western Express denied receiving them. Finally, after his third attempt of faxing the repair bills, the owner sent the repair bill by certified letter, return receipt requested.

The owner's fleet is small, three trucks, he does not have the equipment to send another truck in for the team to drive and with the specialized hauling they do, could not just go out and rent another truck for a month or more until Western Express might pay the repair bill and get the truck out of the shop. Therefore, the owner had to pay for the repairs out of his own pocket to get the truck out of the shop and the team back to work. Luckily, he was in a position to do so, in this economy of slow freight and high fuel costs, many owner operators/small fleet owners would not be.

In subsequent calls to Western Express, the owner has been continually treated rudely and lied to by employees and a supervisor who said he would look into it and get back to the owner, but the supervisor has not done so to this day. They did say that they would not pay him for lost revenue even though the lost revenue was due to their driver's carelessness.

This is a simply fixed matter; accept responsibility for your driver's actions, pay for the repairs and the reasonable downtime losses submitted and everyone goes their own way. Instead, one gets rudeness and lies from the lower and middle echelons of management. This is not right! The team and the owner of the truck are the injured parties and should not lose their hard-earned money due to carelessness and poor judgment of a company and its employee! Nor should they be treated like they are the guilty ones in this incident, the team was legally parked at a truck stop when hit by a Western Express driver.

Again, the owner of the truck was lucky and able to pay for the repairs out of pocket and get the truck and its team back out on the road being productive instead of letting it sit in the repair shop for weeks waiting for Western Express to step up to the plate and deal with its responsibilities. If the owner would not have been able to do this, he would have lost the truck and the team would have been out of work. Is this the way that Western Express conducts all of its business? Is it Western Express's goal to put owner operators and small fleet owners out of business?

If this is the way that Western Express handles its obligations with the bad attitude and lack of attention to detail by its supervisors, one wonders if the president of the company, Wayne Wise, is aware of what is going on in his own company or is this his way of doing business? One can only hope not! We will watch this very closely, and if it is not resolved satisfactorily in the extremely near future, we will dig deeper into the history of Western Express and how it handles its liability for their driver's actions.

From Global Trucking Media: Sally Sue Miller

Troopers' criminal case over, but questions remain

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - Seven New Jersey state troopers will not face criminal charges after a seven-month rape investigation. But it remains unclear whether _ or when _ they might return to work.

On Friday, a day after prosecutors in Middlesex County announced that none of the troopers would be charged with a crime, state police Capt. Al Della Fave said the troopers will remain suspended until an internal investigation of their conduct is complete.

Della Fave said it is not clear how long that may take.

In December, a 24-year-old college student reported to authorities that she had been raped in the Ewing Township home of a trooper after a night out at a Trenton nightclub.

Seven troopers were suspended with pay while prosecutors investigated the claims.

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office announced Thursday that there would not be charges against any troopers, but did not explain why.

Early in the investigation, the lawyer for one of the state troopers said that there was sexual contact between at least one of the troopers and the woman _ but that it was consensual.

Nat Dershowitz, a lawyer for the alleged victim, said it was an unjust decision and that she may file a civil lawsuit or ask the U.S. Attorney to investigate the investigation.

Dershowitz said that investigators gathered DNA evidence in the case and that he believes all seven of them could have been charged with a crime.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the troopers, whose names have not been made public, say their clients have been exonerated.

But it may not be that simple.

It's possible that Col. Rick Fuentes, the superintendent of the state police, will charge them with violating department rules. If so, punishments could range from a reprimand to termination with loss of pension.

Katherine Hartman, a lawyer for one of the troopers, said that the fact that a prosecutor dismissed the charges himself rather than presenting the case to a grand jury to determine if a crime was committed indicates that the troopers did not violate any laws _ or even department rules.

"They didn't do anything wrong," Hartman said. "That's why they shouldn't be charged" internally.

David Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Organization of New Jersey, said the state police internal investigation may take some time. After all, he said, the state police are only now getting the investigation files that were built by prosecutors over the course of seven months.

"Now you have to start from scratch on the administrative review," he said. "There's still going to be a lot of review and consideration."

By GEOFF MULVIHILL |Associated Press Writer

Senate considers bill to limit energy futures speculation

To address high fuel prices at the pump, the U.S. Senate is considering a law that goes directly to the source – oil commodities trading and speculators blamed for rapid increases in oil prices.

Trading of oil futures by speculators has been blamed for increasing the cost of gas by as much as 50 percent. Elected officials have introduced a flurry of bills aimed at closing the “Enron loophole,” which allowed overseas trading of U.S. oil and preceded huge increases in oil speculation over the last five years.

Senators planned to discuss the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act –S3268 – Thursday, July 17, Congressional Quarterly reported. The bill would add 100 full-time employees to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency charged with regulating futures trading, and would limit speculation trading “by those who are not trading actual physical petroleum products.”

The bill also would force U.S.-based oil traders to comply with U.S. trading regulations even when operating through foreign exchanges.

“Right now, Wall Street traders are raising gas prices with nothing more than the click of a mouse,” said Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, said in a written statement. “Without regard of anything but their own profits, traders are bidding up prices by buying huge quantities of oil just to sell them at an even higher price.”

“This bill will address the rising cost of gasoline in the short-term, prevent Wall Street traders from gaming the oil markets, and ensure that American consumers are paying a fair price at the pump,” Reid said.

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine

Federal bill urges bridge inspections, repair

A bill scheduled for debate next week in the U.S. House of Representatives would set in motion a new process for prioritizing the inspection, inventory and repair of structurally deficient and obsolete bridges on the National Highway System.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-MN, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced HR3999 in October 2007 in response to the Aug. 1, 2007, collapse of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis that killed 13 people including a trucker.

“The I-35 bridge had been rated as structurally deficient since 1990, and had undergone annual inspections by the Minnesota Department of Transportation since 1993,” Oberstar stated in a report to fellow lawmakers.

He said the bridge received a rating low enough for it to be eligible for replacement under the Federal Highway Bridge Program, but the bridge was neither closed nor replaced and the tragedy occurred.

Oberstar’s bill, also known as the National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act of 2007, emerged from the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, July 15, on its way to the House floor. The debate is next week according to House T&I Committee staff.

The Rules Committee has allowed a number of amendments to be considered during debate, including one by Oberstar to create a $5 million pilot program to install high-tech monitoring equipment on up to 15 bridges in five states.

Insiders say HR3999 has a lot of bipartisan support on the Hill heading into the debate.

“We understand that there will be potholes here and there, but it’s disconcerting to think that a bridge could collapse beneath us,” said Mike Joyce, senior government affairs representative for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

“Without that infrastructure in place, our country suffers. We need to have bridges and highways that can support our commerce, our goods and services we provide.”

Federal Highway Administration statistics show there are more than 73,000 structurally deficient bridges nationwide. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that it would cost $65 billion to upgrade or replace them all.

Oberstar’s legislation targets bridges on the National Highway System, which has 6,177 structurally deficient bridges and 17,167 functionally obsolete bridges totaling 23,344 in need of repair, rehabilitation or replacement.

OOIDA is urging its members to contact their federal lawmakers to support HR3999. The Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Give the Capitol operator your ZIP code to be connected to your representative and senators’ offices.

Click here to read a summary of HR3999 as reported to the House.

Oregon DOT to offer voluntary truck inspections July 18-19

The Oregon Department of Transportation’s Motor Carrier Transportation Division is offering voluntary truck inspections Friday and Saturday, July 18 and 19, at seven locations around the state.

Inspectors will check that truck drivers have valid CDLs and medical cards and will also check the mechanical condition of each truck and trailer, all subject to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspection criteria. Vehicles passing the inspection will be issued a CVSA inspection decal that represents a stamp of approval good for three months.

Each safety inspection can take up to 30 minutes, so to manage the workload the motor carrier division is requiring that truckers make appointments. Inspections will be offered from noon to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the following locations:

Portland, Jantzen Beach motor carrier division office, 12348 N. Center Ave; (971) 673-5909;
Woodburn port of entry, I-5 at mile marker 274, southbound inspection; (503) 378-6963;
Grants Pass, Oregon DOT’s maintenance yard on I-5 at Exit 58, 345 N.E. Agness Ave.; (541) 776-6221, Ext. 1;
Ashland port of entry on I-5 at mile marker 18 northbound; (541) 776-6221, Ext. 1
Klamath Falls port of entry, 4647 Highway 97; (541) 883-5701;
Umatilla port of entry, 1801 S.W. Highway 730; (541) 922-5183; and
Ontario, DOT maintenance yard, 541 Stanton Blvd., I-84, Exit 371; (541) 869-2010.

“While our inspectors will not issue citations if they find safety problems during this event, they can’t let a truck go if they find a critical safety violation,” MCTD Safety Program Manager David McKane said in a press release. “You can’t drive your rig back to the shop for repairs. Any truck found with an out-of-service problem must be fixed before it can leave the inspection site.”

Reed Black with “Land Line Now” asked McKane why truckers should volunteer to be inspected. In other words, what is in it for them?

“If, after the inspection, there are no defects, what’s in it for the truck driver is that a defect-free truck will receive an inspection decal that will be honored at least for the next 90 days indicating that the truck was inspected,” said McKane. “It’s not a guarantee that it will not be inspected again, but there’s enough trucks out there today that most truck inspectors will look for a truck without a decal.”

Visit the Motor Carrier Transportation Division’s Web site here for more information.

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine

Simulator is bound for Fergus Truck Show July 24-27

One of the biggest truck shows in North America is just a week off. The Fergus, Ontario, truck show in Canada is scheduled for July 24-27 at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex.

This year show management has added an amusement park and an 8-cylinder demolition derby to the agenda, which already included lots of music, truck and tractor pulls, a Show & Shine and tons of barbeque.

But wait, there’s more.

The Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada is bringing the thrill of NASCAR wide-oval racing to the Fergus Truck Show.

The retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car, sponsored by the Missouri-based Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, is currently set up as a simulator/trainer. Equipped with a 24-inch video screen in the cockpit so drivers can get into the spirit of the race, the simulator features active full-motion suspension and surround-sound that provides a realistic racing experience – from the roar of the engine to the feel of bumps in the track and the impact of hitting other cars as you wind your way forward from the back of the pack.

“It’s almost everyone’s dream to drive a NASCAR racer, but this may be as close as most folks ever get,” stated OBAC Executive Director Joanne Ritchie in a press release. “We’ll be offering free rides to new OBAC members who sign up at the show, and collecting donations for Trucking for Wishes from others. That way, we’ll share in helping children’s dreams come true as well.”

The Fergus Family Fun Zone, sponsored by NAL Insurance, will offer amusement rides, family games, crafts, and play areas at the truck show to raise funds for Trucking for Wishes. The mission of Trucking for Wishes, working through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, is to fulfill the dreams of children with life threatening illnesses.

OBAC and the NASCAR simulator will be set up at space No. L-54 at the Fergus show.

Ritchie is urging truckers attending the Fergus show to try their luck on the wide oval. She confirmed that the simulator’s speed-limiter has not been activated.

OOIDA member Ron Mermis, who travels with the simulator to truck stops and truck shows all over the U.S. signing up OOIDA members, is looking forward to bringing the simulator to Canada for the first time.

“Drivers on both sides of the border need to work together and speak with a united voice,” says Mermis. “And there’s nothing wrong with having some fun together, too.”

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine

Kentucky sends one letter, suspends CDL privileges for many

Maria Arnold was stunned to hear the news from a potential employer.

The state of Kentucky had suspended her commercial driver’s license so the carrier couldn’t hire her, the manager of a trucking company told Arnold – an OOIDA member from Springfield, KY.

Arnold later learned the state had sent a letter in May to her home address – not her post office box – while she was out on the road.

“Apparently they only sent it to my physical address and when they did, of course, it was returned,” Arnold told Land Line. “After 30 days, they cancelled my CDL. I was outraged.”

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recently suspended an unpublicized number of CDLs just 30 days after mailing a request for information to CDL holders.

The Transportation Cabinet’s office of public affairs responded to some of Land Line’s questions by e-mail, but did not say how many CDLs were suspended or whether the action had led to officials seizing any trucks or loads.

Agency spokesman David Devers said the Kentucky General Assembly required that certain 10-year driving record information be added to CDL applications by 2005. CDL holders were recently notified if they hadn’t submitted the applications, Devers said. Those drivers’ CDL privileges were then canceled “until we do receive it” Devers said.

“Anyone who has a question about this matter can call our CDL section at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at (502) 564-0280,” Devers said.

Arnold said her CDL was quickly reinstated – without a fee – after she called and faxed information to the state. Arnold said she was told 5,000 to 8,000 Kentucky CDL holders may be driving under suspended licenses.

The Washington County, KY, area has a few sizable trucking companies and many truck drivers, Washington County Circuit Clerk George Graves told Land Line. Graves said the suspension has led to “a few” harried phone calls from truck drivers needing to become street legal again.

Arnold feels their pain.

“I hate to think of all these owner operators out there who don’t know they’re driving without a CDL,” Arnold told Land Line. “Most of them are not coming home all the time, as hard as things are now.”

– By Charlie Morasch, staff writer

FMCSA silent on Arizona enforcement of TV reg on laptops

Officials with the FMCSA won’t say whether the agency has told Arizona to stop citing drivers with laptops in their cabs, more than a month after the state requested guidance from the federal agency.

The issue has the potential to affect thousands of truckers who have computers, GPS devices or other technology in their cabs to track hours of service and use mapping technology.

In May, OOIDA received calls from members who had been cited or warned at the San Simon port of entry weigh station for having a laptop either mounted near their driver’s seat or sitting in the passenger seat.

However, FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne told Land Line that Section 393.88 wouldn’t cover laptop computers.

Following the inquiries by Land Line Magazine in early June, the Arizona Department of Transportation suspended writing citations for drivers with laptops in their cabs.

Officials with the state DOT requested an interpretation on Section 393.88 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which bans screens capable of receiving a television broadcast from being within view of commercial drivers.

Kristin Schrader, a spokeswoman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told Land Line this week the agency has no comment regarding the status of Arizona’s request.

Gerald Cook, an OOIDA member from Amarillo, TX, was cited in late May and told by an Arizona DOT officer the ticket could cost him $450. Cook has pleaded not guilty and is fighting the citation in court.

The story sparked outcry among OOIDA members and Land Line readers, many of whom use laptops for mapping and logbook software, including voice-activated mapping software.

The laptop issue is not likely to go away soon.

Members of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance were scheduled to address the issue of laptop computers in cabs of big trucks at their September conference in Winnipeg. But the Arizona DOT’s request for a legal interpretation and other confusion about the rule has magnified the importance of the issue, CVSA Executive Director Stephen Campbell told Land Line in June.

Arizona DOT spokeswoman Cydney DeModica didn’t return recent phone calls by Land Line. In previous interviews, DeModica said Arizona DOT enforcement officers said they had seen drivers typing and using computers for chat sessions.

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine

Overweight trucks fined as much as $10,000 at NYC bridges, tunnels

Truckers hauling overweight loads are risking heavy fines if they try to cross New York City’s bridges and tunnels.

Officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Bridges and Tunnels division said truck drivers carrying more than 80,000 pounds can be fined as much as $10,000 each for crossing MTA facilities.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels facilities are the Bronx-Whitestone, Cross Bay Veterans Memorial, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial, Throgs Neck, Triborough and Verrazano-Narrows bridges, and the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens Midtown tunnels.

The Bridges and Tunnels Division officials said they have recently issued more than 100 summonses per month to overweight trucks, some as heavy as 200,000 pounds. The truckers were fined and told to turn around.

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine