News Flash

State Air Board Votes Unanimously to Clean Up Ships in California's Ports

(December 6, 2007) - Action taken today by state air regulators will save lives by cutting the deadly pollution from ships docked at California ports.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted unanimously today to require ships to use shore-side power, with a series of deadlines beginning in 2010. According to CARB, this rule will reduce diesel and smog-forming emissions from idling container, cruise, and refrigerated cargo ships by nearly 50 percent relative to levels otherwise expected to be emitted in 2014, and 80 percent by 2020.

You wouldn't think of leaving your car engine running in the garage overnight, but the massive container ships docked on California's coast spew 14 tons of smog-forming pollution every single day. These ships burn extremely dirty fuel idling their engines to keep on lights, refrigeration, and other systems. By plugging a ship into shore-side electrical power, emissions are dramatically reduced.

Ports are a growing source of deadly diesel pollution. Ships are a primary source of risk for dock workers and residents near ports. CARB estimated that emissions from ships at dock are associated with 61 premature deaths per year-that's more than one person each week dying because ships are idling their engines.

Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) has worked to shape this regulation for more than two years. A broad base of support for this important rule includes environmental organizations, residents and legislative leaders from communities around California's ports, and health advocates such as the Regional Asthma Management and Prevention Initiative and the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma.

"Electrical workers support the use of shore power at California's ports," said Kevin Norton, assistant business manager for IBEW Local 11. "It's high time that residents and our members living in port areas get relief from this pollution."

CCA's Tim Carmichael, Diane Bailey of NRDC, Don Anair of Union of Concerned Scientists, Bonnie Holmes-Gen of American Lung Association of California, Joy Williams of Environmental Health Coalition, John Kaltenstein of Friends of the Earth, Rupal Patel of Communities for Clean Ports, Nicole Shahenian of Breathe LA,
and others urged CARB to adopt-and strengthen-the regulation during public testimony.

An amendment by board member Dorene D'Adamo (seconded by Ron Roberts) strengthened the rule by ensuring that the ship visits threshold which triggers which shipping fleets must abide by the regulation would be a statewide number and not per port, as originally proposed.

Ports affected by the regulation are: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Hueneme (Ventura County).

This regulation pairs with the ruling CARB passed in December 2005, which required the use of a fuel with lower-sulfur content in the auxiliary engines of ships. That rule is being successfully implemented today despite being litigated by industry. In 2008 CARB is expected to consider rules that would expand shore power to additional vessels, including tankers and vehicle carriers, and require cleaner fuels in the main engines which propel the ships and which are, by tonnage, an even greater source of pollution than the auxiliary engines.

For detailed information, see CARB's information on the rule:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2007/shorepwr07/shorepwr07.htm

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