Rolling Truck Age Program
In August, the VFPA reached out to the SRA asking for a letter of support for their Rolling Truck Age Program, which in brief prohibits diesel trucks older than a certain age from entering the Port. The goal is to get older, more polluting trucks off the road. Here’s a link with more details.
After discussing at our September 2022 SRA meeting, we drafted and sent the following letter.
Mr. Robin Silvester
President & CEO
Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
Re: VFPA Rolling Truck Age Program – Letter in support of implementation
Dear Mr. Silvester:
On behalf of the Strathcona Residents Association, we are writing to you to express support for the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s implementation of the Rolling Truck Age Program. The residents of the Strathcona neighbourhood live adjacent to major port operations on the South Shore of Vancouver and are directly impacted by activities at the port. Implementing this program will undoubtedly help improve the health of our residents by reducing harmful emissions from drayage trucking.
We fully support the VFPA in bringing this program to the implementation stage; however, our support does not come without concern over the repeated timeline deferrals and the now watered-down program requirements. We are mindful that what was once boldly envisioned as a 7-year rolling truck age program (to be implemented in 2019) has been significantly altered, and has just been deferred again to April 2023. Under the current revised implementation plan, some 14-year-old trucks will be permitted to remain in service. Overall, this has doubled the permissible truck age, without any stated environmental or technological justification for doing so.
As you are aware, old-model trucks produce unwarranted levels of nitrogen oxides and diesel particulate matter, which is a known carcinogen. Implementing a rolling truck age program with appropriate truck age limits is a significant concrete step the VFPA can take to fulfill its mandate as an environmentally responsible steward to mitigate the known detrimental health impacts on people who live and work near these busy trucking corridors.
While we recognize that container trucking is an integral link in the port supply chain, it is also a significant source of emissions within the Metro Vancouver region. The trucking industry has been provided with more than adequate notice of the Program requirements and of the two previous scheduled implementation dates. At this time, we are urging the Port Authority to resist any further pressure for timeline deferrals or concessions to non-compliant trucks.
In closing, we are encouraged by the Port Authority’s vision for the Port of Vancouver to be the world’s most sustainable port and we appreciate that, despite facing vocal opposition, the VFPA will be requiring the trucking sector to replace or upgrade trucks to improve safety, and reduce particulate matter emissions for the benefit of the region’s air quality, and the residents who live here.
Sincerely,
Dan Jackson, President, Strathcona Residents Associatio
cc
Hon. Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport
Michael Keenan, Minister of Transport
Hon. Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Hon. Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament for East Vancouver