Rich Kassel's Blog
New Global Pact to Dump Dirty Diesels at Sea
October 10, 2008
Posted by Rich Kassel in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Reviving the World's Oceans , The Media and the Environment
Good news on the Dump Dirty Diesels Campaign front today...
Yesterday, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted new fuel and emissions standards for large diesel-fueled, ocean-going ships. When fully implemented, this will help reduce pollution by 80 percent or more from even the largest, dirtiest, sootiest cargo ships on the high seas, including those that are foreign-flagged operating in U.S. waters.
Cleaner ships will be good news for anybody who breathes air that is downwind from any of our nation's ports.
And, that's a lot of people: according to the U.S. EPA, more than 87 million Americans live near ports that don't meet EPA's federal health standards for ozone or particulate matter, the key pollutants linked to dirty ship pollution. Millions more live downwind, since the toxic particles can travel for hundreds of miles.
There are two steps to the new IMO program. First, in countries that establish "emissions control areas" (ECAs), large ships will have to use fuel that contains 98 percent less sulfur than the current global cap (1,000 parts per million (ppm) vs. 45,000 ppm). Plus, ships operating in ECAs will have to install pollution-cutting equipment to ultimately achieve reductions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 80 percent, particulate matter (PM) by 85 percent, and sulfur oxides (SOx) by 95 percent, compared to current emissions levels.
Second, all ships in international trade (i.e., even those not in ECAs) will be required to use fuel with no more than 5,000 ppm sulfur by 2020. That's still a 90 percent reduction from today's global cap. Even for these ships, new engine standards will cut NOx emissions by 20 percent and will apply to new engines and to existing engines (as certified low-emission kits become available) beginning in 2011.
Of course, to get the cleaner fuels and ships at our ports, the U.S. must now move forward to establish an ECA for all U.S. coastal areas: east, gulf, and west. This will require an EPA rulemaking under the Clean Air Act, which should start right away.
As regular Switchboard readers know, ship emissions have been a big concern at NRDC for years. My colleagues in California have created some of the most effective, innovative programs for the ports there. Their report, "Harboring Pollution: Strategies to Clean Up U.S. Ports," was the kick-off for a slew of important programs in California and elsewhere.
But even the best local programs have been stuck with a basic truth: no amount of alternatively-fueled cargo handling equipment and dockside electric power for ships unloading their cargo can offset the impact of the world's huge ships belching black particulate soot at uncontrolled levels.
And, as emissions decline from other transportation sources, ship emissions will become a larger part of the nation's pollution inventory. According to EPA, in 2001, oceangoing vessels contributed only about six percent of nitrogen oxide (NOx), 10 percent of particulate matter (PM), and roughly 40 percent of sulfur dioxide (SOx) to the nation's air pollution from mobile sources. Without further controls, pollution will increase to about 34 percent of NOx, 45 percent of PM, and 94 percent of SOx emissions by 2030.
To sum it up, this global agreement will help people breathe in port and other downwind communities in years to come. But to have the maximum benefit, EPA needs to adopt an ECA for our coasts.
Luckily, since EPA staff were the key catalysts in moving the IMO agreement from concept to final agreement (here's a shout-out to Margo Oge and her team at EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, which carried this agreement from concept through years of tough negotiations), I'm extremely hopeful.
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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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