California Concrete Pumpers Alliance

First I must correct my last article. I wrote that the Port of Oakland would soon be converting the Alameda Navel Air Station to Port use. I should have written the Oakland Army Supply Depot. I apologize to any of you who went to Alameda in search of work. I can also further report that a preference will be shown for job applicants who reside in Oakland. To qualify as a resident of Oakland you must show proof that you have lived there for 7 days! I suppose this stringent requirement will be strictly enforced.

I spent all day Thursday May 24th at CARB, along with Betty Plowman. The morning was a group of “experts” talking of many perils of black carbon and the immediate need for action based on their “science”.

The fellow from Stanford warned that an unnamed species was a real hazard to Earth and would need to be reduced in order to balance things out. He never mentioned the species but I think we could narrow it down a bit to those with an opposed thumb. Others warned that the Arctic ice pack would melt within 20 years if nothing was done. Regulation is our only choice.

This last month I attended my first meeting at the Port of Oakland, which included representatives from the truck working group, the port, the shippers, the teamsters and longshoreman trades plus the drayage industry.

The concept behind these meetings is to keep the port running smoothly and for the players to stay informed. The Port of Oakland is ranked third in West Coast shipping volume behind Long Beach and Los Angeles in terms of shipping and transportation generates about 14 percent of our state’s economy, so it’s a big piece of the pie.

The year was 2006 and things seemed to be warming up in California. We had a real live movie star acting as governor; he fit right in with the rest of the state government players, who are mostly actors themselves

Soon an action drama was needed to prove how much smarter and forward looking we are. Schazaam! How about an official act, AB 32 aka “The Global Warming Solutions Act”. It started out with boffo reviews and much hoopla.