Port Commission

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Meeting

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RETAIL INDUSTRY LEADERS ASSOCIATION

1700

Moore Street

Suite

2250

Arlington,VA 22209

Phone: 703

84 1

2300

Fax:

703

184

Retail's Future...Educate, Innovate, Advocate

Email: info@riIa.org www.riIa.org

March

1, 2009

Chief Executive Officer Tay Yoshitani

Port of Seattle

27 1 1 Alaskan Way

Seattle, WA 98121

Dear Mr. Yoshitani:

am'writing on behalf of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) to express our support for

your outline for a clean truck program

that ensures a reduction in truck emissions while maintaining

a healthy business climate for supply chain investments in the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

Shippers, like RILA'

s retail members, support the adoption of a rolling ban on trucks based on the

model year of the equipment without fees imposed on industry stakeholders. The

timeline included

in your outline allows transportation providers to make sound investments that maintain both the

Seattle and the Tacoma port's competitive advantage over other west coast ports.

By way of background, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is a national trade

association of the largest and fastest growing companies in

the retail industry. Its member

companies include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which

together account for more than $1.4 trillion in annual sales. RILA members operate more than

100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers, have facilities in all 50 states, and

provide millions of jobs domestically and worldwide.

RILA's members, who are among the largest shippers through the Port of Seattle, urge you to

continue to not include fees on industry stakeholders to fund truck replacement programs. Earlier

this year, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach implemented fees to help

hnd clean trucks. In

our view, this has led to the movement of some discretionary cargo out of

LALB and into other

fee fiee" ports such as Tacoma and Seattle.

Mandatory fees may void investments that shippers, carriers and

drayage providers have already

made to purchase fleets of expensive clean burning harbor trucks. We hope you will chose to rely

on industry to

identifjr the most cost effective investments available to comply with the standards

you set.

We urge you not to include unnecessary provisions unrelated to the commission's goals, including

those that would result in added costs to doing business through Seattle and Tacoma marine

terminals. Already, the

Intermodal Carrier Conference of the American Trucking Association

(ATA) was successful in their efforts of filing suit against both the ports of

LAILB for including a

truck concession requirement in their Clean Truck Program designed to restructure the size and

nature of the harbor drayage industry. We are encouraged by the federal appeals court decision to

support

ATA's challenge. The court appropriately found that the ban on owner

operators at the

Port of Los

Angeles was illegal and that Long Beach's demands for detailed financial data from

drayage operators and for preference to hire certain drivers were likely illegal as well. ~hese

provisions force hard working small business owners out of the market while doing nothing to

directly reduce truck emissions

Taking an industry friendly approach is good for business in

SeattleITacoma. The more SeaTac is

able to differentiate itself from the ports of Southern California by working together with willing

industry partners, the more it will position itself as a preferential gateway

---

which benefits everyone

tied to the port economy including the truckers and drivers.

Many independent owner operators make a good living and

run

successful small businesses, the

backbone of the American economy. Independent operators can, will, and have deployed clean

equipment without needing the port to get into the truck

fmancing business or to impose any fees or

employee mandates. Many of

RILA's members have negotiated rates at the ports of LALB with

their individual trucking providers that allow for the purchase of new, clean equipment that is 100

percent privately funded

In these tough economic times it is extremely important to approach worthy environmental

mitigation issues such as this one with

carehl consideration for unintended consequences. We

must work together to avoid the problems encountered by some of your southern neighbors.

Working in collaboration, we can ensure that we address the shared goal of reducing carbon

emissions around the ports, while protecting the businesses and good jobs affiliated with the port's

operations.

In summary, RILA supports your concept of implementing a rolling ban based on the age of the

truck applicable to both Seattle and Tacoma marine terminals. We are co

nfi

dent that industry

stakeholders will

find the most efficient means of complying with the rule so as to maintain the

region' s competit ive advantage.

Thank you for your consideration and if you have any questions, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Kelly Kolb

Vice President, Global Supply Chain Policy

kelly. kolb@,rila.org

703.841.2300

1700

Moore Street, Suite 2250

Arlington, VA 22209