| May 21, 2008 Landmark
legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer to require tougher
pollution controls for ocean-going and container ships cleared a major
hurdle today after passing the Senate Committee on Environment & Public
Works.
“This legislation is key to efforts to reduce ship emissions, which are a
significant source of air pollution not just in Southern California, but
also in port areas across the nation, said William Burke, Ed.D., Governing
Board Chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “We are
very encouraged by the support it received today in the Senate Committee.”
The Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works today passed S.1499 –
The Marine Vessel Emissions Reduction Act – that would require the federal
government to adopt tougher pollution controls for container and ocean-going
ships. The legislation passed on a voice vote and now moves to the full
Senate for consideration.
Southern California is a prime example of the serious adverse health
effects that ship pollution has on the nation. It is estimated that in
Southern California alone, approximately 800 premature deaths per year
result from exposure to fine particulate pollution from ocean-going
vessels. Research has shown that particulate pollution from ocean-going
ships causes at least 2,000 to 5,000 premature deaths per year in the
continental United States.
In addition, AQMD recently completed its third Multiple Air Toxics
Exposure Study (MATES III) that showed ship emissions create cancer risks of
more than 100 in 1 million for more than four million residents in
communities surrounding the Los Angeles and Long Beach port areas.
S. 1499 - which is co-authored by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and has a
companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, HR 2548, authored by
U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis – would require the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency to:
- Reduce the sulfur content of fuel used by domestic and foreign
ocean-going ships calling at all U.S. ports 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 coastline. Sulfur would be
reduced from an average of 27,000 parts per million (ppm) today to a
maximum of 1,000 ppm; 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.
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 large,
ocean-going ships.
Last year, EPA announced that it would delay until December 2009 the
adoption of new regulations for such ships. However, there is no assurance
that the rules will be adopted by then and if they are, that they will be
strict enough to achieve sufficient air pollution reductions from ships
needed to meet a 2015 federal air quality deadline.
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 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
Southern California 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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