Rich Kassel's Blog
Here's the rule - and it's a good one!
March 17, 2008
Posted by Rich Kassel in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy
A day off from congestion pricing (at least in my blogging).
Here's why: last month, I wrote a post, “Where’s the rule?” alerting Switchboard readers to our five-year wait for a strong EPA program to reduce pollution from the nation’s dirty trains and ships.
On Friday, EPA answered our question with their announcement of their final rule that will require new trains and ships to be 90 percent cleaner than today’s models—and that will also require today’s dirty trains and ships to be built to much cleaner levels when they go through their regular overhauls.
Together with a prior EPA rule that is cleaning up trucks, signed by President Clinton in 2001, this rule will go a long way towards cleaning up goods movement within the nation. NRDC put out a strong statement of support, which is pasted at the bottom of this post.
Of course, there’s still the open question of the container ships out there on the open seas, which I wrote about on February 15. And, of course, with container cargo expected to double by 2020, we can’t really rest until we figure out how to handle all of those extra goods in a sustainable way.
But, for now, this rule is a strong step in the right direction. It’s something to applaud EPA for, and I thought you would want to know.
And, here’s the press release we put out on Friday, which also gives some key details about what's contained in EPA's new program.
New EPA Diesel Rule Will Clean Up Dirty Trains and Ships
Will Reduce 90 percent of Soot Emissions by 2030
WASHINGTON (March 14, 2008) -- Thousands of emergency room visits and more than 1,000 premature deaths will be avoided every year, once a long-awaited federal plan to clean up dangerous, lung-clogging emissions from railroad locomotives and large marine diesel engines is fully implemented, according to scientists and clean-air advocates at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which has been advocating for a clean-up plan for more than five years.
The plan, contained in a rule announced by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson at a press conference in Houston today, will cut particulate soot pollution from new ship and train engines by 90 percent, starting in 2015. It will also cut smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent, starting in either 2014 or 2015, depending on the size and type of engine. Between now and then, ship and train engines will be required to be rebuilt to cleaner levels, as they undergo their regularly-scheduled overhauls.
The following is a statement from Richard Kassel, director of NRDC’s Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project and a member of EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee:
“While ships and trains deliver many things Americans want, nobody needs to breathe their toxic soot. These ships and trains emit as much smog-forming pollution each year as 120 coal-fired power plants.
“EPA has delivered a strong program that will go a long way towards solving the problem of diesel train and ship pollution in the future.
“Thousands of asthma attacks and other health emergencies will be avoided, as the nation’s 40,000 ships and 21,000 diesel locomotives are cleaned up in years to come.
“Cleaning up trains and ships is an extremely cost-effective way to cut pollution. Judging from EPA’s data, every dollar invested in cleaner diesel engines should result in up to $15 in health savings.
“Like prior EPA rules that are dramatically reducing pollution from the nation’s trucks, buses, tractors, bulldozers, and other diesel engines, today’s new rule assumes that engine makers will use new pollution-cutting filters and catalysts to cut train and ship pollution.
“With this rule finished, two steps remain. First, given the long life of diesel engines, the nation’s ports, railyards, and freight haulers need to find ways to accelerate the clean-up of today’s dirty engines. Second, the global shipping industry needs to clean up the pollution from the foreign-flagged ships that are beyond the reach of today’s rule.”
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- Rich Kassel
- Senior Attorney and Director, Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project
- New York City
- I came to NRDC in 1991 on a three-year grant, and never left. Over the...
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