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Seattle program scraps 200 trucks
By eTrucker Staff
The Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS) program July 1 scrapped its 200th truck in Seattle.
ScRAPS started last November with the goal of taking at least 250 container-hauling, or "drayage," trucks with pre-1994 engines off the road. Through the program, truckers receive $5,000 or the Blue Book value of their truck - whichever is greater - in return for scrapping their old truck.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency developed the ScRAPS program using grant funding from the Port of Seattle and contracted implementation to Cascade Sierra Solutions, an Oregon-based non-profit organization focused on reducing emissions from trucking. The program was designed to support the goals of the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, which aims to lower emissions from all maritime operations.
"Removing 200 of the dirtiest trucks from the road is a big milestone," said Tay Yoshitani, Port of Seattle CEO. "Truck drivers have been able to invest in newer, cleaner trucks - trucks that improve air quality for our neighbors while moving cargo through our gateway to markets across the globe."
ScRAPS combines a buy-back and scrap program for trucks with pre-1994 engines, and offers exhaust retrofits for newer replacement trucks to further reduce their tailpipe emissions. The program uses a combination of grant funding from the Port of Seattle, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Clean Air Agency. Truckers have the option of taking their buy-back money and purchasing a newer truck with loan assistance from Cascade Sierra Solutions (the partner responsible for implementing the Clean Trucks program), purchasing their replacement truck from a third party or leaving the drayage trucking industry altogether, as nearly 10 percent of the participants have done.
As of its most recent accounting period last month, the program has spent $910,000 to take pre-1994-engined trucks off the road.
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