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  - Health costs to Californians, so far this year, of port related pollution in California.
The Ports of LA  Long Beach Clean Air Action Plan passed in November 2006, and 1500 clean trucks service the ports.
Port Pollution Facts
  • In Long Beach, 20% of children under 17 have been diagnosed with asthma - nearly twice the national average.
  • $67 million: The cost of respiratory problems associated with ports in CA.
  • Diesel Exhaust is responsible for 84% of the cancer risk from air pollution in the Southern California Air Basin.
  • $19 BILLION: Cost on health system due to port pollution. average.
  • Each day the Port of LA emits over 30 tons of NOx, while a half a million cars emits less than 24 tons and the average power plant emits less than 5 tons.
  • 2,400 - Estimated number of premature deaths caused by diesel emissions.
  • 800,000: Number of children that pollution reduction could save from lung disease.
  • Each day the Port of Los Angeles emits over 30 tons of NOx, while a half a million cars emits less than 24 tons and the average power plant emits less than 5 tons.

Ships
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Particulate matter emissions from international shipping vessels cause 60,000 annual deaths worldwide.  Given trade growth, these annual mortalities from lung cancer and cardiopulmonary diseases could increase 40% by 2012. James J. Corbett, et al, “Mortality from Ship Emissions: A Global Assessment” Environmental Science& Technology, November 5, 2007 http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/pdf/es071686z.pdf


Marine emissions account for 30% of all diesel particulate matter (DPM) in California.  Further, hotelling emissions from ocean-going vessels (OGVs) docked at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the number one cause of elevated cancer risk from port sources.  CARB’s Diesel Particulate Matter Exposure Assessment.


In 2005, both the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach found that ocean going vessels polluted an astonishing roughly 97% of all SOx emissions from the ports. POLA 2005 air emissions inventory, 10; POLB 2005 air emissions inventory.  Sulfur oxides are a health hazard, contributing to moderate to serious respiratory symptoms.  Sulfur oxides also contribute to the formation of fine particulate matter, a cancer causing and toxic air contaminant.  (South Coast Air Quality Management District, Air Quality Management Plan 2007, 2-18) 

Gross ship pollution is a direct result of the under-regulation of marine vessels, and industry reliance on marine fuels with extremely high sulfur content.  Ocean going vessels are the port source category with the least stringent air quality standards.  Because the majority of ocean going vessels that call on the West Coast ports are foreign flagged, they are not regulated by the U.S. federal Environmental Protection Agency.  International ships are regulated by the International Maritime Organization, an agency of the United Nations.  However, current IMO standards are akin to lack of regulation altogether.

Ship sulfur oxide emissions are projected to dramatically grow in the future, given projected trade growth and the continued lax regulations on ships. (South Coast Air Quality Management District, Air Quality Management Plan 2007,ES-9)

Ships—big polluters on the seas and at the ports:

  • Typical container ships measure over 1000 feet long (almost the length of four football fields) and 150 feet long
  • Container ships hold roughly 5000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units), with the largest ships holding 8000 TEUs
  • Ocean Going Vessels account for roughly 97% of all SOx pollution at the ports
  • Ocean Going Vessels are the largest on-port source of diesel particulate matter (PM), and NOx
  • SOx emissions from ships are expected to more than double by 2025 given relaxed air quality regulations for ships and projected trade growth

Growth in goods movement mixed with a highly unregulated industry will have a deadly effect on environmental and public health.

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