Nice move, econuts regulate small trucking companies out of business

The environmental jihad against small business rolls on. Now up in their cross-hairs, trucks and the independent drivers who own them. As of Jan 1^st, if your truck was built before 1994, you can't drive it in or out of the Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine Terminal container complex. According to the econuts those older trucks, regardless of maintenance history or road-worthiness, are ginormous smog-emitters offensive to Mother Gaia.

Their "solution"? Buy a new truck!

Yeah, like every trucker has a spare 90 grand lying around. That's what a shiny new EPA-compliant big rig goes for these days. The major trucking companies can afford to upgrade their fleets. It's the little guy who's left out in the cold.

Access to the nation's busiest port is the lifeblood of independent truckers in New Jersey. Without it they'll barely be able to make a living. The lucky ones might get hired on at one of the big fleets; the rest will quietly fade away.

Not to mention that the cost of those expensive new trucks will one way or the other be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for the stuff we buy. Everything from cars to corn flakes comes through the port and we all know who pays in the end when costs go up.

And so another American icon, the independent trucker made famous by movies like "Smokey and the Bandit", falls victim to onerous regulation.

It's Hope and Change!

Posted at 09:59 by Chris Wysocki   [/agw]   Comments | Perm Link |
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