SAN PEDRO BAY PORTS CLEAN AIR ACTION PLAN (CAAP)

CAAP Facts

• The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with the participation and cooperation of the staff of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District, have developed a cooperative, sweeping, aggressive strategy to significantly reduce the health risks posed by air pollution from port-related sources.
  
  
• The adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two busiest container seaports in the United States, and, if taken together, are the fifth busiest in the world, moving more than $260 billion a year in trade. The ships, trucks, trains and other diesel-powered equipment and harbor craft at the ports are major sources of air pollution in a region that already has some of the worst air quality in the nation.
  
  
• Air pollutants at the ports include nitrogen oxides (NOx), which contributes to smog; sulfur oxides (SOx), which contribute to particulate matter; and diesel particulate matter (PM), which poses health risks. Port-related vessels and vehicles account for 12 percent of the region’s particulate matter, 9 percent of the NOx and 45 percent of the SOx.
  
  
• Even as trade grows at the two ports, the Plan aims to cut diesel-related particulate matter (PM) pollution by more than 47 percent and smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by more than 45 percent within the next five years, resulting in emission that will be below 2001 levels. Measures under the Plan also will result in reductions of sulfur oxides (SOx) by more than 52 percent. NOx is a precursor of smog; SOx contributes to particulate matter; and PM has been shown to lead to health problems.
  
  
• In five years, under the Plan, diesel PM from all port-related sources would be reduced by a total of 1,200 tons per year. NOx emissions would be reduced by 12,000 tons per year. SOx emissions would be reduced by 8,900 tons per year.
  
  
• The San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan is the most comprehensive, far-reaching strategy to combat air pollution ever developed by any United States seaport. It will involve hundreds of millions of dollars of investment by the ports, the state, air quality regulatory agencies and the ports industry. The Plan will expedite the introduction of new and innovative technologies for reducing emissions ahead of any federal or state requirements.

Pollution Reduction Strategies

• The Clean Air Action Plan addresses every category of port-related emission sources – ships, trucks, trains, cargo-handling equipment and harbor craft – and outlines specific, detailed strategies to reduce emissions from each category.
  
  
• The ports propose to eliminate “dirty” diesel trucks from San Pedro Bay cargo terminals within five years. The ports will join with the state and local regulatory agencies to finance programs to replace trucks with a new generation of clean or retrofitted vehicles. The ports, along with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, propose to allocate more than $200 million over five years towards this effort, explore the use of pollution-based impact fees, and aggressively seek state bond funding to assist with this massive truck replacement initiative.
  
  
• As part of the Plan, all major container cargo and cruise ship terminals at the ports would be equipped with shore-side electricity within five to 10 years so that vessels can shut down their diesel-powered engines while at berth. Ships also would be required to reduce their speeds when entering or leaving the harbor region, use low-sulfur fuels, and employ other emissions reduction measures and technologies.
  
  
• Within five years all cargo-handling equipment would be replaced or retrofitted to meet the toughest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards for new equipment. The Clean Air Action Plan covers all cargo-handling equipment, including equipment not covered under the California Air Resource Board’s recently adopted cargo-handling equipment regulations.
  
  
• Within five years all switching locomotives operating in the ports also will meet the toughest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for new locomotives, use cleaner fuels and exhaust treatment, as well as devices that will automatically shut off engines to prevent extensive idling. In addition, all new rail yards must use the cleanest technologies available for locomotives, trucks, and cargo handling equipment within their facilities.
  
  
• The Plan also includes a far-reaching technological advancement component to address and ultimately overcome obstacles that impair the utilization of the cleanest vessels, engines and equipment at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
  
  
• The five-year Plan also includes commitments by the ports to develop a plan for truck fleet modernization by the end of the first quarter of 2007, and to complete a legal analysis by the end of the second quarter of 2007 on a proposed tariff requiring ocean-going vessels to use low-sulfur fuels.