On January 1, 2010, trucks built prior to 1994 will no longer be allowed entry into the Port of Los Angeles. Also, trucks built between 1994 and 2003 must be retrofitted to meet current emissions requirements before they can get in. Why you ask? The truck ban is part of the Port of Los Angeles’s almost self-explanatorily named Clean Truck Program ¾ the program’s overall goal is to improve air quality.

Roughly 400 truckers protested recently in front of L.A. City Hall, not because they didn’t support the program, but because “the devil is in the details,” as one person with the National Port Drivers Association said.

Purchasing a new truck can cost upwards of $100,000, and upgrading trucks to meet energy-efficient standards can also mean paying thousands of dollars too, said one UPI story.

The Port of Los Angeles is the most productive seaport in North America as far as shipping container volume and cargo value its website says, and it “generates 919,000 regional jobs and $39.1 billion in annual wages and tax revenues.”

Do you think the port’s Clean Truck Program is too demanding or restrictive? Or is this the only way to make sure it can reasonably reduce air pollution?