Source: Bizjournals
A key amendment to the Marpol Convention recently adopted in London means cleaner air for Houston and its surrounding areas.
Short for “marine pollution,” Marpol is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships.
On March 26, the International Maritime Organization — the United Nations agency that regulates shipping — created an Emissions Control Area, or ECA, within 200 miles of coastlines which requires large ships coming into ports to have cleaner-burning fuel.
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia supported the measure and submitted a video to the IMO urging its passing. The City of Houston, Harris County and the Port of Houston Authority included resolutions of support with the video.
“A lot of the air pollution in our area comes from foreign ships because they burn cheap, dirty fuel,” Ryan said. “Harris County is probably the biggest beneficiary of this change because of the kind of air pollution issues we have and the amount of foreign tonnage the Port of Houston handles.”
Added Garcia: “As the commissioner representing the region that includes the Port of Houston, I think it only makes sense that we would want to join the international community in taking steps to reduce the emissions of major shippers as they do business on and near our port and channel.”
The first benchmark is 2012, when the amount of sulfur in fuel must be reduced to less than 10,000 parts per million, almost a third of the now-standard 27,000 ppm. By 2015, that number drops to 1,000 ppm in ECAs. Both measures are expected to drop sulfur oxide emissions by more than 85 percent.
Enforcement in the United States falls to the U.S. Coast Guard.
A key amendment to the Marpol Convention recently adopted in London means cleaner air for Houston and its surrounding areas.
Short for “marine pollution,” Marpol is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships.
On March 26, the International Maritime Organization — the United Nations agency that regulates shipping — created an Emissions Control Area, or ECA, within 200 miles of coastlines which requires large ships coming into ports to have cleaner-burning fuel.
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia supported the measure and submitted a video to the IMO urging its passing. The City of Houston, Harris County and the Port of Houston Authority included resolutions of support with the video.
“A lot of the air pollution in our area comes from foreign ships because they burn cheap, dirty fuel,” Ryan said. “Harris County is probably the biggest beneficiary of this change because of the kind of air pollution issues we have and the amount of foreign tonnage the Port of Houston handles.”
Added Garcia: “As the commissioner representing the region that includes the Port of Houston, I think it only makes sense that we would want to join the international community in taking steps to reduce the emissions of major shippers as they do business on and near our port and channel.”
The first benchmark is 2012, when the amount of sulfur in fuel must be reduced to less than 10,000 parts per million, almost a third of the now-standard 27,000 ppm. By 2015, that number drops to 1,000 ppm in ECAs. Both measures are expected to drop sulfur oxide emissions by more than 85 percent.
Enforcement in the United States falls to the U.S. Coast Guard.
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