Ports Switch to Lower Emissions

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports passed strong measures in March to curb ship and truck emissions by subsidizing less polluting fuels.

The ports, which combined are the busiest in the country, worked with the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association to draft the voluntary incentive program for cargo ships that will last for one year beginning in July.

The scheme would pay the price difference between dirty bunker fuel and more expensive low-sulfur distillate fuel. Shipping companies would have to agree to use the cleaner fuel within 20 miles of California’s coast.

"We know that ships are responsible for 80 percent of pollution in the Harbor Area, and it is time to adopt a policy that requires low-sulfur fuel," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn in a Daily Breeze article.

Some of the ships servicing the ports spew the same amount of greenhouse gases as 12,000 cars, according to the Los Angeles Times. The $19 million plan would likely cut sulfur oxides by 11 percent and diesel particulate matter by 9 percent.

"When 1,200 lives are cut short every year by a barrage of diseases, ranging from emphysema to cancer of the mouth, we have a moral obligation to act fast," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in another Los Angeles Times article.

Both ports will ban trucks starting in 2012 that don’t meet the 2007 federal emissions limits. Trucks built between 1996-2006 would have to be retrofitted with pollution control devices, while trucks built before 1996 would be banned.

The ports will provide grants covering 80 percent of the cost of a new truck. The goal is for half of these trucks to run on liquefied natural gas or another alternative fuel, according to Gordon Smith, media relations director for the Port of Los Angeles.

These efforts are meant to mitigate expansion projects at the ports. Their cargo business is expected to triple by 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Ships

The shipping companies that accept funding for low-sulfur fuel would also have to use the cleaner fuel while berthed at the ports.

(The Los Angeles and Long Beach facilities have promised to add electricity to about 30 berths within five years. This would allow ships to turn off their diesel engines while stationary. Los Angeles also has committed to replace diesel-powered cranes with electric models.)

The Natural Resources Defense Council criticized the fuel plan because it’s not mandatory.

But about a quarter of the ships don’t have two fuel tanks to switch between bunker and low-sulfur petroleum. Also, the cleaner fuel may not burn well in some engines. The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association expects a 65 percent compliance rate, Gordon Smith said.

The California Air Resources Board will likely require ships to use low-sulfur fuel next year.

The Trucks

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will have different regulations for enforcing the trucking plan, which could impede its success.

Many of the nearly 17,000 truck drivers who service the ports are independent contractors.

The Los Angeles Harbor Commission voted to require truck drivers to be employed by licensed shipping companies by 2012, according to the Daily Breeze. The Commission felt it would be easier to regulate a small number of companies, and independent drivers wouldn’t be able to afford the $100,000 price tag for cleaner trucks.

The American Trucking Association sees the strategy as a backhanded way to unionize drivers and has threatened to sue the port.

Long Beach decided to allow independent truck drivers to continue servicing its port because of litigation fears.

Clean Air Action Plan

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach emissions reduction plans will be funded by a cargo fee approved in January. The fee, which is expected to generate $1.6 billion by 2012, will be paid by shipping companies for containers passing through the ports.

In November 2006, the Harbor Commissions finalized the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, which is the nation’s most aggressive seaport pollution mitigation scheme.

The five-year plan hopes to reduce diesel particulate matter by 47 percent (1,200 tons per year), nitrogen oxide by 45 percent (12,000 tons per year) and sulfur oxides by 52 percent (8,900 tons per year).

The ports of Oakland, California, and New York/New Jersey are drafting similar plans.