Judge throws out California low-sulfur fuel law for maritime engines

Judge throws out California low-sulfur fuel law for maritime engines A Ninth District Appeals Court on Thursday handed federal preemption advocates a victory over states' rights opponents, ruling that federal clean air laws take precedent over a California law requiring oceangoing marine vessels to use low-sulfur fuel in their auxiliary engines.
      In the 15-page ruling, District Judge Barry Silverman sided with the maritime industry, which had argued that locally imposed environmental regulations should not trump federal legislation such as the Clean Air Act. Silverman also vacated a previously stayed injunction against the suit's primary defendant, the California Air Resources Board, blocking the state air quality regulators from enforcing the so-called Marine Vessel Rules.
   The Pacific Maritime Shipping Association, which represents most of the shipping lines calling on the West Coast, said it was pleased with the decision.
   'The case provides additional clarity on how vessels are regulated and moves away from this patchwork quilt of regulation that we are seeing develop,' said PMSA President John McLaurin.
   CARB put the Marine Vessel Rules into effect Jan. 1, mandating that all vessels calling at California ports use low-sulfur fuel in their auxiliary or diesel-electric engines within 24 miles of the state coast.
   The PMSA sued the state agency, arguing that while the federal Clean Air Act allows individual states to adopt 'standards and other requirements relating to the control of emissions,' the regulations must be reviewed and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
   At the start of proceedings in the case, a district court issued an injunction barring CARB from enforcing the state rules — an unusual step given that the PMSA had not asked for injunctive relief from the court. An appeal by the defendants in September stayed the injunction while the legal proceedings continued.
   During the Ninth Circuit Court proceedings the state argued to the court that the Marine Vessel Rules were not 'standards' but instead 'in-use requirements' because the rules did not apply to new engines, only those already in service. CARB also argued that the rules do not meet the criteria of emission standards because the rules did not set engine requirements, only which fuel can be used in those engines.
   The court found both of the state's arguments specious, declaring that the fuel rules clearly meet all current court and legal definitions of 'emission standards,' including those offered in previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
   'The plain language of the rules regulates emissions, not fuel,' Silverman wrote. 'The Marine Vessel Rules create a limit on emissions that is presumed to be met if the specified fuels are used. Supplying a presumed mode of compliance does not alter the nature of the general requirement limiting emissions.
   'In the end,' the judge wrote, 'the Clean Air Act preempts the Marine Vessel Rules and requires California to obtain EPA authorization prior to enforcement because the rules are 'emissions standards' that require that engines 'not emit more than a certain amount of a given pollutant.' '
   While not originally named by the PMSA filing, the National Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for Clean Air, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the City of Long Beach asked to be included as co-defendants after the suit was filed, which the court allowed.
   In rendering the decision, the appeals court stopped short of a PMSA request to decide if the state rules also violate the federal Submerged Lands Act.
   The PMSA had hoped a ruling on the Submerged Lands Act would have led to a court definition of the extent the state's authority reaches away from the shoreline.
   According to various media sources, the state is considering several options on how to proceed including obtaining a waiver from the EPA, appealing the decision to either a larger Ninth Circuit Court panel or the U.S. Supreme Court, or simply rewriting the state rules.