CARB approves new port truck, vessel emission regulations

CARB approves new port truck, vessel emission regulations Officials from the California Air Resources Board on Friday passed two major regulations addressing pollution generated by trucks and ships at the state's major ports.
   The new regulations, passed after two final days of public comment on the proposed rules, set new state limits on emissions for drayage trucks serving 14 ports in the state and mandate all ocean-going cargo vessels to plug into land-side electrical power while berthed at six California ports.
   The truck regulation will affect about 20,000 drayage drivers at the ports of Benicia, Crockett, Hueneme, Humboldt Bay (Eureka), Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Redwood City, Richmond, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Stockton.
   Set to go into effect, the new truck rule will force drivers to install new engines in pre-1994 trucks by the end of 2009. Operators of 1994 or newer model year trucks would be forced to cut emissions of diesel particulate matter, seen mainly as soot in diesel exhaust, by 95 percent within the same deadline. By 2013, all of the covered trucks, regardless of model year, will be required to meet emission standards now set for 2007 model year engines.
   The rules also impact drivers servicing 11 intermodal rail yards through the state: Oakland Union Pacific (UP) and Oakland Burlington (BNSF); Hobart BNSF; LATC UP; Commerce UP; Commerce Eastern BNSF; Richmond BNSF; ICTF UP; San Bernardino; Stockton Intermodal BNSF; and Lathrop Intermodal UP.
   The second regulation approved by CARB on Friday will require about 95 percent of container, passenger and refrigerated cargo ships calling at six California ports to turn off their auxiliary engines — used to provide maintenance power for onboard equipment such as lighting and ventilation — while a ship is docked. Under the rule, docked ships must plug into shore-based power sources to receive their electricity or meet equivalent emission reductions through other means.
   The new rule also included a complicated series of deadlines for actually reducing the auxiliary engine emissions, depending on which scenario they chose to implement.
   A shipping line choosing to implement shore-side power for its vessels would have to eliminate half of its California-calling fleet's overall emissions by 2014. The number jumps to 80 percent in 2020.
   If the shipping line chooses to rely on alternative technology — such as emissions filtering at the smokestack or low-emission dockside generators — the firm must reduce its California-calling fleet's total emissions by 20 percent before 2010, 40 percent by 2012, 60 percent by 2014 and 80 percent by 2016.
   Shipping lines may also choose to utilize a combination of the two scenarios. Under the new rules, a shipping line using a third option, a combination of the first two, would be required to reduce its California-calling total fleet emissions by 20 before 2012, 50 percent by 2014, and 80 percent by 2020.
   Ports covered under the shore-side power regulation include Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and Hueneme in Ventura County. ' Keith Higginbotham