West Oaklanders and the Port of Oakland may have a new chance to clean up the air in the asthma-plagued neighborhood, now that a U.S. District Court Judge upheld the right of the Port of Los Angeles to implement a Clean Truck Program.
 
Though already facing an appeal, the Court’s ruling late Friday on Los Angeles’ innovative Clean Truck Program has been greeted as likely to serve as legal precedent, paving the way for ports elsewhere to cut diesel emissions by regulating the trucking fleets serving their ports.

Tuesday night saw the end of two years of negotiations between the Port of Oakland, environmentalists, truckers and West Oakland residents, with a vote to reduce toxic emissions from trucks serving the busy shipping center.