The crack that’s formed between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is growing wider.

The Long Beach port agreed last week to settle a lawsuit with the American Trucking Association over provisions in its plan to cut truck emissions.

In contrast, the L.A. port has not settled a similar lawsuit from the same association; in fact, it recently boosted its lobbying effort to change a federal law that ultimately could help truck drivers organize into a union – which irks the truckers association.

In short, the two neighboring ports – long viewed by shippers and truckers as something akin to one big cooperative – are seen by some of their customers to be diverging. Long Beach is now being viewed as more business friendly; Los Angeles as more union friendly.

“It looks like they are moving further apart, so we have to watch and see what develops next,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “All the important decisions will be made back in Washington, D.C.”

Indeed, Los Angeles gained momentum on the national political front last week in its campaign to amend the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, what’s called F4A, which 30 years ago essentially deregulated the trucking industry. Specifically, the L.A. port wants to be able to require that truckers who drive into the port are employees of companies and not independent owner-operators or contract drivers. As employees, the drivers could be unionized; as independent drivers, they cannot.

Mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York and Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., voiced support Oct. 18 for L.A.’s plan. Mayor Ron Dellums of Oakland has already backed L.A.’s version of the program.

Darry Sragow, a well-known political consultant and partner in the downtown L.A. office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, said the L.A. port’s efforts to change federal law has grabbed national attention partly because of the current political climate.

“You have an interested, receptive and arguably sympathetic president and administration,” Sragow said. “Those three ingredients would easily propel a discussion on how to handle trucks at the port of Los Angeles onto the national stage.”

The national attention came after a lobbying push by the port. The L.A. port Oct. 15 approved an additional $55,000 to pay the Gephardt Group, a lobbying firm led by former congressman and presidential candidate Richard Gephardt, through January. The port has approved three rounds of funding for the lobbying group since July, totaling $205,000 this year.

The L.A. port’s executive director, Geraldine Knatz, has said that the facility wants to amend the law to allow ports to implement regulations that affect their security, congestion and environmental programs. Without the ability to more closely regulate truckers, port officials said, their big, expensive Clean Truck Program is left vulnerable.

However, trucking firms and shipping companies claim that L.A.’s main objective is to push for employee-drivers simply to make it easier to unionize them. Labor unions are big supporters of elected officials in Los Angeles.

Two in one