News Release

July 24, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                             

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Lisa Warshaw, deputy communications director
213.630.1192 x103 or 323.360.8778 cell
Candice Kim, ports program associate
213.446.8598 cell

Shippers mandated to use cleaner fuels off the CA coastline
The Air Resources Board adopts new lifesaving plan to clean up ship pollution

Sacramento, CA – The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has approved a new regulation to reduce harmful pollution caused by massive oceangoing vessels, including container ships, cruise ships and oil tankers that call on California’s ports and transport products up and down our coastline.

The new regulation requires ship operators to use cleaner marine distillate fuels in both the main and auxiliary engines, and auxiliary boilers, on oceangoing vessels operating within 24 nautical miles of the California coastline. The cleaner fuels contain lower sulfur content and will reduce the emissions of sulfur oxides and particulate matter into the air. New fuel requirements would be implemented in two phases: the first beginning in 2009 and the second in 2012.

For years, the Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) has worked to address the tar-like sludge used to propel cargo ships. This dirtiest of diesel fuels produces staggering amounts of air pollution linked to serious health hazards, such as asthma, cancer and even premature death. Ships produce almost a fifth of all diesel particulate pollution in the state and fifty percent of sulfur oxide pollution.

“We are thrilled that the Air Resources Board has taken action to protect the public from this huge and largely unregulated source of dangerous pollution. It is a huge victory for clean air and public health,” said Candice Kim, ports program associate for the Coalition for Clean Air. “Ten Californian’s die every day due to air pollution from ports and freight transportationthese rules are expected to save 3,600 lives in the next six years.”

California is proving that the use of cleaner fuels in ships is a viable and affordable solution to today’s pollution crisis. Maersk, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, has voluntarily used cleaner fuels for their ships’ California visits since 2006. A clean fuels regulation covering only auxiliary engines was enforced throughout 2007—mostly without incident—until industry litigation threw out the rule in court.

Today’s action has been crafted to address the legal complaints and further expand the use of cleaner fuels, benefiting communities all along the coastline, as well as near our ports.

“Until now, the public has been paying the cost of cheap shipping with their health. For every dollar spent on cleaner ship fuels, the public will save $20 in health costs,” noted Kim. ARB further calculates that the added cost of complying with this regulation represents less than one percent of the total costs of a typical trans-Pacific voyage.

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For more than 35 years, the nonprofit Coalition for Clean Air has been committed to restoring clean air to California. With offices in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Fresno, it is dedicated to strengthening the environmental movement by promoting broad-based community involvement, advocating responsible public policy and providing technical expertise.

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