Los Angeles and Long Beach Reduce Toxic Ship Emissions
Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor commissioners Monday approved a plan to subsidize low-sulfur fuel to ships traveling close to the two ports or while docked. The program aims to improve air quality by reducing toxic ship emissions.
At a joint meeting in Wilmington, the harbor commissioners approved the incentive program aimed at accelerating cargo vessel operators’ use of the cleaner-burning fuel for one year to ships transiting within 40 miles of San Pedro Bay and at berth in the port complex.
Cargo ships now use highly polluting bunker fuel, which generates the majority of sulfur oxide emissions in Southern California and makes ocean-going vessels the single largest source of air pollution at the two ports.
Under the incentive proposal, the ports would pay the difference between the price of bunker fuel and the more costly low-sulfur distillate fuel for vessel operators who make the fuel switch within at least 20 miles and out as far as 40 miles from the ports.
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Container ship in the Port of Los Angeles, America’s busiest port. (Photo credit unknown) |
The ports are located in San Pedro Bay, 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
The ports will earmark millions of dollars to pay vessel operators to use cleaner-burning, low-sulfur fuel in their main propulsion engines. Sulfur oxides, which contribute to the formation of health-threatening soot or particulate matter, will be cut by as much as 11 percent and particulate matter by nine percent, accelerating air quality improvements ahead of the schedule set by the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan in November 2006.
“This joint effort demonstrates once again that these two ports are world leaders in aggressively and dramatically advancing environmental protection,” said Los Angeles Harbor Commission President S. David Freeman. “It’s important that we continue to work together to clean the ports’ air so that one of Southern California’s biggest job generators is also known as its greenest.”
“Ships are the No. 1 pollution source here at the ports and we don’t want to keep waiting for state regulations to kick in,” said Long Beach Harbor Commission President Mario Cordero. “This program will give us significant improvements in air quality and provide a much-needed bridge to the important state regulations on low-sulfur fuels that will start next year.”
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Trade valued annually at more than $100 billion moves through Long Beach, making it the second-busiest seaport in the United States. (Photo courtesy Port of Long Beach) |
“We are moving full steam ahead in making our ports the cleanest and greenest in the world,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “By switching to clean-burning fuel we will cut air pollution and help Southern Californians breathe easier.”
“This proposal would immediately improve the air quality of Southern California,” said Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster. “It is a collaborative and creative effort to tackle the single largest source of pollution from these two ports and is a big step forward in our efforts to clean the air.”
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Finally some good news about reducing pollution from ports and the largely unregulated ships! Does Urban Woods avoid all this pollution with its domestic manufacturing and sourcing of materials? Thanks for your leadership on this issue and with the Sustainable Furniture Council!
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