Stacked decks: Big ships belch most pollution

One large ocean vessel, such as this cargo ship in San Francisco Bay, spews more pollutants than 2,000 diesel trucks, according a Bluewater Network report

By Environmental News Network staff

Big ocean vessels are the dirtiest source of transportation, leaving trails of smog across the world's most heavily plied shipping routes and clouds of crud in major ports, according to a report from the Bluewater Network.

The report, a compilation of several studies, concludes that emissions from large ships significantly threaten the health of people living in major port areas in the United States. The emissions also contribute to climate change across the world's oceans, according to Bluewater.

Big ships are more energy-efficient than other forms of transportation such as trucks or trains. However, a paucity of emissions regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and international regulatory agencies have allowed big vessels to become leading emitters of nitrogen, sulfur oxide and diesel particulate.

Oil tankers, container and cargo carriers, and cruise ships, all labeled Category 3 by the EPA, run on bunker oil, the dirtiest and least expensive form of fuel, according to Bluewater.

Bunker oil, the residue of high-grade fuels, contains high concentrations of toxic compounds banned from use in many other industries. The fuel contains up to 5,000 times more sulfur than diesel fuel.

"Bunker fuel is 5 percent sulfur, and that causes tremendous emissions of particulate matter, which exposes dock workers, passengers, crews and residents around ports to huge volumes of cancer-causing particles," said Russell Long, executive director of Bluewater. "The pollution is different from particulate pollution form trucks because that's dispersed all over the place, trucks spread out their toxic affect over distance, ships have dedicated routes and ports."

"A single container ship belches more pollution than 2,000 diesel trucks. With the explosion in global trade, 95 percent of which occurs in ships, oceans are beginning to look like freeways," Long added. "It's outrageous that the EPA regulates all other transportation sources but is stacking the deck for ships."

Large ships contribute at least 14 percent of all nitrogen emissions in the world

Bluewater has filed a lawsuit against the EPA through Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund over the issue. Concerned that regulating ship fuel would cause vessels to fill up in other countries such as Canada or Mexico, the EPA is letting the United Nation's International Maritime Organization monitor pollution from ships under a treaty known as MARPOL Annex VI, according to Bluewater.

"The EPA simply passed the buck to the IMO on regulating Category 3 ships. Their rationale was that they don't want to interfere in international trade or international treaties," said Long.

MARPOL Annex VI — which will still allow ship emissions to grow some 13 percent by 2030 — is not an enforceable agreement at this juncture, according to Bluewater. The group told the EPA as much.

The agreement will only go into effect only after countries responsible for at least 50 percent of the world's shipping traffic ratify it. So far, only two nations have done so.

If the treaty is not signed, ship emissions will grow by 35 percent by 2030.

According to the EPA, large ocean vessels emit 273,000 tons of nitrogen oxide per year into U.S. air. The Earthjustice lawsuit cites EPA's failure to set any standard for nitrogen oxide emissions.

"Bluewater is calling for a reduction in sulfur levels which will in and of itself reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions. That would be the most economical and simple way to simultaneously reduce all the most dangerous pollutants," said Long.

Bluewater wants the EPA to regulate emissions of all ships in U.S. waters and says case studies and U.S. laws support this action. The group also wants the EPA to set feasible and enforceable standards for new ships built in the United States.

In a 1997 report from Carnegie Mellon University, researchers found that ships account for 14 percent of all global nitrogen emissions and 6 percent of sulfur emissions from all fossil fuels. Both pollutants are linked to global warming.

"EPA's refusal to regulate emissions from these ships is not only illegal, it places an unnecessary obstacle in the way of efforts to improve U.S. air quality," said Martin Wagner, attorney for Earthjustice.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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Act to prevent pollution from ships

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