Houston, Maersk win EPA grant

Houston, Maersk win EPA grant    The Port of Houston Authority and Maersk Line have won a $1.5 million grant from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the National Clean Diesel Program.
   The National Clean Diesel Emissions Reduction Program grant will pay the differential costs incurred when Maersk Line vessels switch from high-sulfur bunker fuel to lower-sulfur marine diesel while approaching Texas waters. Maersk Line vessels call at the APM Terminal located at the Port of Houston’s Barbours Cut complex.
   The program is set to begin in August with 19 Maersk Line vessels scheduled to participate. Once those vessels are within 24 nautical miles of the Texas coast, they will switch to lower-sulfur fuels. The cleaner marine diesel fuel will contain no more than 0.2 percent sulfur, compared to the 2.7 percent sulfur contained in regular bunker fuel.
   The fuel-switching program is set to run until March 31, 2012, and is expected to improve local air quality and public health in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria non-attainment area.
   While fuel switching is prevalent along the West Coast, the port said it would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Gulf.
   The fuel-switching program will be in place prior to implementation of the North American Emission Control Area (ECA). Earlier this year, the International Maritime Organization officially designated waters off North American coasts as an area in which stringent international emission standards will apply to all ships. Starting in August 2012, the ECA will require that the sulfur content in fuel be no greater than 1 percent. By 2015, all ships operating in the designated ECA will be required to use 0.1 percent sulfur marine fuels.