EPA Hauled Into Court Over Ship Smokestack Pollution

Source: Environment News Service (ENS)
Published Sep. 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC, September 7, 2007 (ENS) - Friends of the Earth is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, for failing to meet a deadline to regulate air pollution from large ships. The federal agency recently postponed indefinitely its commitment to set emissions standards for ship engines.

On Wednesday, the environmental group sued the EPA in federal district court in Washington, DC to force the agency to impose limits on emissions.

'Air quality in port cities like Seattle and Oakland takes a beating every time a large ship pulls into dock,' said Teri Shore of Friends of the Earth in San Francisco.

'The Bush EPA promised to act months ago to rein in ship smokestack pollution, but instead they have delayed regulations. Port communities are fed up and suffering, that's why we went to court today,' she said.

Just one cargo or cruise ship in port can pollute as much as 350,000 cars, and major ports receive hundreds of ship calls a month, says Shore, yet the air pollution from large ships is an environmental justice issue facing port communities nationwide.

In Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Houston, pollution blows into neighborhoods where respiratory illness has become common.

In addition, EPA has failed to regulate pollution from foreign-flagged ships, which make up more that 80 percent of port traffic from large ocean-going vessels. These vessels are exempt from meeting the air quality standards required by U.S. law.

The EPA says it has been trying to establish worldwide maritime emissions standards by negotiating with the International Maritime Organization.

'The EPA's recent proposal to the International Maritime Organization would deliver cleaner air to all Americans and reduce pollution at nation's ports domestically and internationally,' the agency said in a statement.

The statement said the agency expects to issue proposed rules for reducing emissions at domestic ports, but gave no date for the rulemaking.

The ships burn dirty, asphalt-like bunker fuel that is thousands of times dirtier than diesel used by trucks or trains, and most operate with engines that pre-date even weak international standards.

The bunker fuel contains sulfur, nitrogen, ash, and other substances that turn into sulfur oxide, nitrous oxide, and other pollutants and greenhouse gases when burned, Shore says.

The ships steam into ports and sit, sometimes for days, awaiting their turn to dock and running their engines to generate electricity to operate ship systems. People who live near ports are exposed to high levels of diesel particulate matter and other pollutants, she says.

Smokestack emissions from the global shipping fleet are projected to double in North America in the next decade, Friends of the Earth will argue, exposing communities to diesel exhaust that contributes to respiratory illness, cancer, heart disease, and premature death.

Sarah Burt of the nonprofit, public interest law firm Earthjustice, which is representing the environmental group, says, 'In Los Angeles alone, the ships in port spew more pollution than the metro area's six million cars combined.'

'Residents of nearby neighborhoods have high rates of respiratory illness and the region's highest cancer risk,' said Burt. 'We're taking action today to fix this health hazard.'

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to establish regulations to reduce air pollution from non-automobile engines that significantly contribute to pollution in areas with poor air quality.

EPA committed to the April 2007 deadline to regulate ocean-going vessel emissions in a 2003 Final Rule approved by the Washington, DC, Circuit Court of Appeals. This was in response to a previous lawsuit by Friends of the Earth and Earthjustice challenging lack of agency action on pollution from large ocean-going vessels.

So far, the plaintiffs argue, the agency has relied on weak international standards that provide no air quality benefits in U.S. waters, partly because many of the ships operating here are registered in foreign countries that are not party to the relevant international agreements.

A federal government review of international standards was recently delayed by nearly two years.

Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, recently introduced the Marine Vessel Emissions Act of 2007 (SB 1499) that would require cleaner fuels and engines in all ocean-going vessels calling on U.S. ports. Also a California Democrat, Congresswoman Hilda Solis introduced the same legislation in the House of Representatives (HR 2548).