| May 24, 2007 Measure
Key to Achieving Health-Based Air Quality Standards
U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein along with U.S. Rep. Hilda
Solis announced the introduction today of landmark legislation that would
require the federal government to adopt tougher pollution controls for
ocean-going ships.
“We applaud Senators Boxer and Feinstein and Congresswoman Solis for
their leadership in introducing legislation to address the largest
under-regulated source of air pollution in the Southland – ocean-going cargo
and container ships,” said William Burke, Ed.D., Governing Board Chairman of
the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandated that
Southern California meet tough air quality standards in just seven years,
and yet it has not adopted the measures needed to enable us to achieve that
goal.”
The Marine Vessel Emissions Reduction Act of 2007 is broadly supported by
several Southland elected officials and agencies.
"I strongly support Senator Boxer's effort to reduce sulfur emissions at
the Port of Los Angeles and ports nationwide,” said Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa. “This legislation will improve air quality, protect
public health, and have a significant impact on the reduction of greenhouse
gases."
Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., executive director at the Port of Los Angeles
said, "We support the Marine Emissions Reduction Act of 2007 because, at the
federal level, it sets a sulfur emissions standard that the U.S.-serving
maritime industry can and should attain to ensure that the economic gains we
enjoy from global maritime trade aren't at the expense of adverse
environmental impacts in the form of harmful air quality."
The bill would require EPA to:
- Sharply reduce the sulfur content of fuel used by domestic and foreign
ocean-going ships calling at all U.S. ports and marine terminals beginning
Dec. 31, 2010. Ships calling on West Coast ports would have to use the
low-sulfur fuel at sea anywhere within 200 miles of the West Coast.
Sulfur would be reduced from the average content today of 27,000 parts per
million (ppm) to a maximum of 1,000 ppm. Ships registered in foreign
countries are responsible for an estimated 85 percent of all ship
emissions; and
- Set standards to take effect on Jan. 1, 2012 requiring the maximum
degree of emission reductions achievable in new and existing engines for
all domestic and foreign ocean-going ships calling on U.S. ports.
Earlier this month, the Southern California Association of Governments,
followed by AQMD, requested Gov. Schwarzenegger and President Bush declare a
state of emergency due to an estimated 5,400 premature deaths occurring each
year in the Southland from fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution.
In spite of a 1990 federal Clean Air Act mandate to adopt “maximum
feasible controls” for ships and other off-road pollution sources, EPA to
date has not adopted any significant emission control measures for
ocean-going ships. Last month, EPA announced that it would delay until
December 2009 the adoption of new regulations for such ships. There is no
assurance that the rules will be adopted by then and if they are, whether
they will be strict enough to significantly reduce air pollution in the
Southland, AQMD officials said.
Ships calling on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are responsible
for more than 30 tons per day of sulfur oxide emissions – roughly half of
the total emitted by all sources in the region. Sulfur oxide emissions
contribute to the formation of fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution. Southern
California cannot achieve the federal health-based standard for PM2.5 by a
federally mandated 2015 deadline unless sulfur emissions from ships are
greatly reduced.
Ships are a major source of sulfur oxide emissions because they burn
bunker fuel, one of the world’s dirtiest fuels that contains on average
27,000 ppm of sulfur. In comparison, diesel fuel used by heavy-duty trucks
in the U.S. can contain no more than 15 ppm sulfur. Last year, AQMD gave a
Clean Air Award to Maersk Inc., for switching to low-sulfur fuel in all of
its ships, demonstrating that its use is feasible today.
Ships also are a major source of smog- and particulate-forming nitrogen
oxides, as well as diesel particulate matter, a toxic air contaminant. Due
to the lack of current regulations, ships are virtually the only source
category in which emissions are projected to increase in the future. If
rules are not adopted, nitrogen oxide emissions from ships in the region are
projected to grow from about 48 tons per day in 2005 to about 90 tons per
day in 2020.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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