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CORRECTION: SEE CORRECTION APPENDED; Port trucks: An article in Tuesday's California section about a plan to replace old trucks at the Port of Long Beach with newer, cleaner models said the plan needed to be approved by the Long Beach City Council. Actually, the effort requires only the approval of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, which ratified it Monday.
In a rare display of partnership, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster on Monday touted a joint plan to scrap old diesel rigs and replace them with newer, cleaner models as part of an effort to slash port-related pollution linked to 2,400 premature deaths a year.
Against a backdrop of massive cranes unloading a freighter as it spewed dark columns of diesel smoke, the often rival leaders embraced during a news conference held after the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners agreed to a progressive truck ban identical to one approved last week by the adjacent Port of Los Angeles.
For the time being, however, it's a ban with out an implementation plan. Unless the ports can reduce pollution, expansion projects likely to produce thousands of local jobs will face protracted legal challenges. With so much on the line, Villaraigosa and Foster turned from competition to cooperation.
"For the longest time, we were working on separate tracks," Villaraigosa told a crowd of about 75 truckers, environmentalists and...