Clean air rules exempt Great Lakes vessels

Clean air rules exempt Great Lakes vessels    Wisconsin and Minnesota’s two senior House lawmakers reached a deal this week to keep new clean air rules from applying to the Great Lakes vessel fleet.
   The Environmental Protection Agency had issued proposed rules this summer that would limit sulfur emissions from ships within 200 nautical miles of U.S. coasts, including the Great Lakes.
   Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the compromise will “allow EPA to go ahead with a new clean air rule without sinking the Great Lakes fleet.” The committee oversees the EPA’s budget.
   Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who also serves as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, faulted the EPA for not taking into account the proposed rule’s impact on Great Lakes shipping.
   “Shipping on the Great Lakes accounts for a small fraction of the pollution caused by the maritime industry, but it handles half of all the tacconite used in domestic steel production,” Oberstar said. “Increasing the costs of Great Lakes shipping will drive up the price of American steel products, jeopardizing our economic recovery.”
   Half of the ships operating on the Great Lakes comply with the new EPA rule. The new rule would hit the small Great Lakes shipping fleet especially hard, by putting 13 steamships out of operation because they cannot burn the cleaner fuel, and endangering the operations of 13 diesel-powered ships with Category 3 engines because of increased fuel costs, the lawmakers said.
   In specific, the three-part EPA rule compromise requires:
   ' Great Lakes steamships to be exempt from the new regulations. The steamships cannot burn low-sulfur fuel without risking engine explosion.
   ' EPA’s rule to include a waiver provision to address either the inadequate supply of low-sulfur fuel or serious economic hardship caused by the increased fuel cost. Category 3 diesel ships on the Great Lakes will be able to apply for the waiver.
   ' EPA to evaluate the economic impact of the final rule on Great Lakes carriers and issue a report in six months.
   The compromise language was added to the fiscal year 2010 Interior and Environment appropriations bill, which falls under the House Appropriation Committee’s jurisdiction.