The Port of Long Beach is paying about $30,000 a month to store dozens of new diesel and LNG trucks that it pre-ordered last summer but hasn't been able to sell or lease through its Clean Trucks Program.

Last June the port pre-ordered 500 new trucks - 400 clean diesel and 100 LNG - in anticipation of banning about 2,000 1988 and older trucks that were to be taken out of drayage service when the port's Clean Trucks Program kicked in on Oct. 1, 2008.

However, an estimated 462 pre-ordered trucks remain in inventory due to a slower than expected response to the port's truck funding program.

 - The Cunningham Report