| Mar. 14, 2008 The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s long-awaited rule to reduce air pollution
from locomotives and some ships falls far short of what is needed to achieve
Southland air quality goals, the region’s air quality officials said today.
“This rule will deliver too little, too late to protect thousands of
Southern Californians from hospitalizations and early deaths due to ship and
locomotive pollution,” said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the
South Coast Air Quality Management District. “EPA’s failure to adopt a
stringent rule for ships and locomotives will condemn this region to dirty
air for many years to come.”
The greatest shortcoming of today’s rule is that it does nothing to
reduce the extraordinarily high levels of sulfur in fuel used by ocean-going
ships such as container vessels. Since ocean-going ships are responsible
for the majority of sulfur oxide emissions in the region, EPA’s inaction
will make it physically impossible to achieve the health-based standard for
PM2.5, also known as fine particulate, by a federally mandated deadline of
2015. Sulfur oxide emissions are a precursor to PM2.5 formed in the
atmosphere.
In addition, while the regulation announced today represents a modest
acceleration of timelines compared to a proposal announced last year, the
chief requirements for locomotives will not take effect until after 2015,
too late to achieve the PM2.5 standard deadline that year.
AQMD officials offered the following detailed analysis of EPA’s rule:
- No Control of Emissions from Ocean-Going Marine Vessels --
Oceangoing marine vessels are responsible for more than 800 premature
deaths per year in Southern California and create cancer risks greater
than 100 in 1 million for more than 4 million residents, with peak risks
greater than 1,000 in a million. By comparison, cancer risks from
commercial and industrial sources in the region are limited to no greater
than 25 in 1 million.
- Nitrogen Oxide Emissions Standards for Locomotives are Too Late --
In spite of a two-year acceleration from the proposed rule, the final rule
does not require a phase-in of so-called Tier 4 advanced nitrogen oxide
control technology to begin until 2015 – too late to achieve the federal
PM2.5 standard that same year. Even after 2015, significant benefits will
await many years of fleet turnover since the advanced nitrogen oxide
control requirement applies only to new locomotives sold beginning in that
year. Other provisions of the rule such as remanufacture of existing
locomotives will result only in minimal reduction (just 15 percent to 20
percent for some locomotives) of nitrogen oxides from those locomotives.
AQMD’s clean air blueprint adopted last year relies on full deployment of
Tier 4 locomotives, achieving at minimum an 80 percent emission reduction,
by 2014 in order to achieve the PM2.5 standard in 2015.
- Particulate Emissions Standards for Locomotive are Too Late --
the rule does not require the phase-in of the most effective particulate
matter filtration technology -- which is already being used in Europe – to
begin until 2015 – again, too late to achieve the PM2.5 standard in the
same year. Since the rule applies only to new locomotives, it will take
years if not decades to be fully implemented. In addition to their impact
on regional pollution, particulate matter also contributes to cancer risks
near railyards in excess of 700 in 1 million due to emissions from
locomotives, trucks and cargo handling equipment.
- Locomotive Idling Controls are Needlessly Delayed -- for
existing locomotives, the rule allows railroads to wait until locomotive
remanufacture, which occurs every five to seven years, before installing
anti-idling devices. Yet such devices are available today, can readily be
retrofitted onto existing locomotives and actually save the railroads
money in fuel costs. Locomotives spend much time idling, often emitting
pollutants near residential areas.
Since EPA has failed to take action on the critical issue of air
pollution from ocean-going ships, AQMD has worked with U.S. Sens. Barbara
Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis to sponsor legislation
in Congress compelling EPA to steeply reduce sulfur in fuel used by such
vessels.
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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