THE Port of Oakland is under fire from state and federal clean air agencies and environmental groups for dodging a US$650 million plan for cutting pollution - including the imposition a container tax to fund cleaner trucks.

Regulators complain that the more than two years it took the port to develop its air-quality plan is too long, with the California Air Resources Board also charging that soot from the port elevates cancer risk.

"The plan is too passive and too reliant on outside agencies enforcing state and federal regulations and providing subsidies to your tenants and customers," said Jack Broadbent, executive director of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. "The air district expected a far more robust and collective effort from the port."

The Oakland Port Commission agreed to restore up to US$5 million in funding for grants to trucks to install diesel soot filters required of trucks using ports by a January 1, 2010, state deadline. But the port authority had withdrawn funding after a review of finances in light of the recession.