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Port of NY/NJ to Dump the Dirtiest Diesels: Truck Replacement Program Released Today

2010-03-10T15:00:00Z

Today, I’m joining Chris Ward, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck and others to announce a new truck replacement program that is an important first step towards improving air quality at the port’s marine terminals. Equally important, it’s an important first step toward reducing the pollution impacts of heavy truck traffic in the neighboring communities of Newark, Elizabeth and New York that have borne the brunt of port truck pollution for decades. The plan was referenced in this recent front page Business section story in The New York Times that focused on a similar initiative out of Los Angeles.

Over the past year, I co-chaired the Port Authority’s Truck Work Group with my good friend, Bill Nurthen of the Port Authority. Together, we worked with staff from all of the key stakeholders on this issue – federal, state and city governments, community and environmental justice groups, labor, and industry. The plan that emerged is an important step that will mean cleaner air for drivers and communities neighboring the port next year. It deserves our hearty applause.

The truck replacement program will have three main components:

All pre-1994 trucks will be replaced with cleaner vehicles at the port’s marine terminals, starting on New Year’s Day 2011. Nobody drives a 30-year-old truck because they like the dirty exhaust – they drive them because they cannot afford to buy a newer truck. These are the oldest, dirtiest diesels used at the port. By next year, they will all replaced by models that are model year 2004 or newer and pollute much less. Those who buy 2004-2006 engines will cut their soot pollution by roughly 2/3 and will drop their smog-forming nitrogen oxides by more than half. Those who buy the newer, post-2007 trucks will see soot reductions of 95 percent and NOx reductions of at least 75 percent.
Financing to help truck owners make the switch. 636 truck owners will get the financing incentives they need to enable them to upgrade from their old, dirty diesel vehicles to the newer, cleaner, and more reliable trucks. Specifically, the program will provide $28 million in financial assistance from EPA stimulus funds and the Port Authority to help drivers switch from their pre-1994 trucks to the cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Truck drivers will be eligible for a 25 percent grant toward the total purchase price of a replacement truck and low-interest financing (5.25 percent over five years) for up to 75 percent of the total purchase price.
By 2017, all pre-2007 trucks servicing the port will be replaced with newer, cleaner vehicles. In the long run, we need to clean up all of the trucks – not just the oldest and dirtiest. That’s why under this new program, only trucks equipped with 2007 or newer engines will carry containers and goods to and from the port in 2017. These engines are certified to the most protective soot standards in the world.

This program is the latest step on the road towards a sustainable goods movement system. Back in 2004, NRDC released “Harboring Pollution” – the first environmental report on the health impacts of our nation’s large ports, complete with a set of recommendations on how to make our ports more sustainable.

Cleaning up trucks was at the top of the list of recommendations. Here’s why:

Every day, thousands of dirty diesel trucks carry containers of goods from large ships to warehouses, distribution centers and other facilities, en route to stores and homes around the nation. These trucks (so-called “drayage trucks”) tend to be older and dirtier than the typical truck driven on the interstates. They travel through mostly low-income neighborhoods and communities of color bordering our ports, spewing high levels of particulate soot that triggers asthma emergencies, bronchitis, cancer, heart disease and premature deaths.

Fortunately – as we’re seeing today and as I’ve written over and over, diesel pollution is a solvable problem. Today’s new trucks are more than 90 percent cleaner than the trucks they replace.

But the drayage trucks aren’t the super-clean new trucks being sold today. They are typically trucks that started out in large, well-maintained fleets that travelled long distances, and that trickled down to smaller and smaller fleets on their way to drayage service, a place that my colleague, David Pettit, has called the place “where old trucks go to die.”

In the months and years to come, we need to build on today’s announcement to ensure that goods movement throughout our region is as clean, competitive and sustainable as possible – for the communities that breathe the air, and for the drivers and businesses who will be investing in the cleaner trucks.

NRDC to NYS Senate: Pass S.1145-A on Monday to Protect New Yorkers' Health!

2010-02-05T22:20:57Z

As early as Monday, the New York State Senate may vote on S. 1145-A (Perkins), a bill that would clean up heating oil in the state, and lead to improved public health and reduced air pollution, regional haze and acid rain.

There has been no media attention on this issue in a long time, so I'll fill you in now.

Here’s the bill in a nutshell: Starting in July 2011, S. 1145-A will require all of the #2 grade heating oil (the most commonly used heating oil) sold for use in New York State to meet the same refining standards that the U.S. EPA already requires for diesel fuel used in trucks and buses.

The analogy to diesel fuel is a good one: heating oil comes from the same slice of a petroleum barrel as diesel fuel. Chemically, it’s essentially the same stuff.

The key difference, thanks to stringent EPA diesel regulations that do not apply to heating oil, is that sulfur levels in diesel truck and bus fuel are capped at 15 parts-per-million (ppm), but heating oil can contain up to 15,000 ppm.

Here’s why this matters: Most New Yorkers live in areas that fail to meet EPA’s health-based standards for particulate matter. Particulate matter (or soot) pollution contributes to increased asthma, cancer, heart and lung disease and even premature death. In NYC and many other NYS communities that rely heavily on heating oil, this sludge is a significant source of local soot emissions.

And, many New Yorkers live in communities that are home to some of the highest asthma levels in the nation. Airborne particulate soot is a known trigger of asthma emergencies and attacks.

S. 1145-A would greatly improve New York’s air quality by dramatically reducing the sulfur content in No. 2 heating oil sold for use in New York State. The pollution benefits of implementing S. 1145-A would be comparable to shutting down two and a half coal plants in New York State.

Plus, cleaner heating oil would save money in the long run. The heating oil industry calculates that consumers would save between up to 6% in their heating costs with ultra-low sulfur heating oil. This will be due to higher boiler efficiency, reduced maintenance needs, and reduced fuel use that results from using the cleaner heating oil. These savings more than offset any price increase from switching to the cleaner fuel. (Since January 2008 the premium for ultra low sulfur diesel over No. 2 heating oil in New York State has been 1.74%.)

We’ve got great support for this bill, including the Teamsters Joint Council 16 and Local 553; the NY Oil Heating Association, the Empire State Petroleum Association, the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island and their counterparts in the Hudson Valley, Central New York and Easter New York; and our environmental and public health colleagues at the American Lung Association of NY, Environmental Advocates, EDF, NY League of Conservation Voters, UPROSE, and WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

The Assembly has already passed this important bill. On Monday, we need the Senate to pass it also!

NRDC Rallying with Elected Officials, Labor, and Advocates to Preserve MTA Service

2010-02-03T22:42:09Z

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be joining NYC Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio, NYC Council Transportation Chair James Vacca, Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign Senior Attorney Gene Russianoff and large contingent of NYC and NYS elected officials to rally against the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s decision to halt service on key subway and bus lines throughout the city.

It’s at 8:30 a.m. at the Broad Street Station (that’s the J, M and Z lines for those without easy access to MTA subway maps). Hope to see you there.

In December, the MTA announced a wide swath of service cuts that include an end to student transit passes for more than a half-million kids, plus a long list of subway and bus cuts throughout the city. The MTA estimates that this will save about $100 million.

It doesn’t have to be this hard. Under last year’s federal stimulus bill, transit systems around the country can use up to 10 percent of their federal capital funds to ease the sharp drops in their operating budgets that are due to the declining economy. At least six of the nation’s ten largest transit fleets have taken advantage of this opportunity to keep their trains and buses running, including Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

If the MTA followed their lead, it would have the funds to avoid the proposed cuts.

Some say this isn’t a long-term answer and that we need to keep investing in the infrastructure of the system to prepare for future generations of riders—and I agree. But these are unique times—and workers and students need to get to their jobs and schools now. That’s why President Obama and Congress agreed that it was necessary to enable transit fleets to use these funds to maintain service and transit-oriented jobs during this economically difficult time.

Ahhh, but this just came in: the Daily News reported this afternoon that the MTA is facing a $400 million gap in its finances this year – even after it implements the cuts announced in December. That’s because planned revenue from a new payroll tax has dropped further than the state’s budget office had predicted.

So this is going to get harder before it gets easier.

If New York's leaders are serious about increasing mobility, reducing congestion, and cutting pollution to create a more environmentally sustainable city, they - and we - need to find ways to preserve - and improve - transit service, not cut it.

Here are three steps that should be supported:

First, the MTA should take advantage of available stimulus funds to help avoid drastic service cuts this year.

Second, the State and City should pay a fairer share of the costs of moving 585,000 kids with discounted student MetroCards.

And third, we should all work together towards a new jobs bill in Washington that would provide more federal funds to underwrite transit operation.

EPA Finalizes Rule on Ship Pollution: A Welcome Holiday Gift for Clean Air

2009-12-22T21:02:55Z

Back in August, I wrote about an EPA proposal to reduce ship emissions. Today, EPA has finalized this rule. Here’s my quick take on why this new rule is important, what it will mean once it’s implemented, and the key next steps on ship pollution to watch out for.

The rule will cover the largest, dirtiest diesels that power the ocean-going vessels (OGVs) at our ports, such as oil tankers, container-carrying cargo ships, and large cruise vessels (regulated as "Category 3" engines because of their size, i.e., those with per-cylinder displacement at or above 30 liters).

This rule is a critical piece of a multi-part strategy to reduce ship pollution off our coasts and at our ports. Due to the complexities of how ships are governed at the international level, this rule will only cover the U.S.-flagged ships at our ports and off our coasts. But it’s a key step towards getting international approval of a comparable rule for all ships, U.S.- and foreign-flagged, at the March 2010 meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London.

Here’s the background:

Over the past few years, EPA joined with the Coast Guard, the State Department, and a diverse set of other governmental, industry and nongovernmental stakeholders (including NRDC) to advocate for a stronger global commitment to reducing ship emissions worldwide.

It was the correct next step for an EPA that had aggressively targeted every other source of mobile diesel emissions over the past decade. (see, e.g., EPA’s rules for trucks and buses, farm, construction, and other nonroad diesel engines, and locomotives and marine-diesel engines).

In late 2008, this resulted in a new global pact to reduce ship emissions (for those readers interested in the minutiae, the agreement is codified in amendments to Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (a/k/a "MARPOL” in the shipping world)). The new Annex VI amendments include a provision that allows individual countries to create special "Emission Control Areas" to accelerate the reduction of ship pollution off their coast lines.

In March, the Obama administration proposed the creation of a joint US/Canada Emission Control Area (ECA) pursuant to this provision. Under this ECA proposal, ships within 200 nautical miles of our coastlines will use fuel that has 98 percent less sulfur than in current OGV fuel, and will cut their smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 80 percent and their cancer-causing particulate soot (PM) emissions by 85 percent, starting in 2015.

This proposal is critically important because air pollution from large ships is expected to grow rapidly as port traffic increases. By 2030, the ECA strategy is expected to reduce annual emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from large marine diesel engines by about 1.2 million tons and particulate matter (PM) emissions by about 143,000 tons. Cutting those NOx and PM emissions by 80 and 85 percent, respectively, will be necessary for communities downwind of our ports and for states that are chronically battling dirty air.

The health benefits of these emissions reductions will be substantial. In fact, EPA estimates that, by 2030, between 13,000 and 33,000 premature deaths and between $110 and $280 billion in health costs will be avoided annually. As with all the other EPA diesel rules over the past decade, these benefits will far, far, far exceed the expected implementation costs—at a ratio of at least 30:1.

Frankly, it is hard to find a better deal in the public health world.

Plus, there are significant climate benefits too. Scientists are increasingly pointing to black carbon emissions as a key issue in the acceleration of melting sea and glacial ice, especially in the Arctic region and key mountain ranges that supply drinking water to billions of people around the world like the Himalayas and the Rockies. Unlike carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, black carbon emissions are very short-term in duration – they last only a few weeks in the atmosphere. In other words, cutting black carbon emissions today creates global warming benefits almost immediately—creating some breathing room to allow the longer-term strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions time to take effect.

The soot particles from the world’s ocean-going ships have a core that is largely composed of black carbon. So, in addition to the health benefits listed above, cutting ship pollution creates a short-term climate benefit almost immediately. In this week of important climate news, a commitment to cutting ship pollution would be an added bonus.

What does EPA’s new rule have to do with all of this?

As I wrote in August, EPA’s rule covers all US-flagged ships, just in case the IMO fails to support the US/Canada ECA proposal. Obviously, given the global nature of shipping, we need the IMO-sanctioned ECA to really solve the ship pollution problem off our coasts because most large ships at our ports carry foreign flags. Nevertheless, this EPA rule for US-flagged ships will send a strong signal to the global shipping industry that the US intends to act swiftly to cut this pollution from the ships under its jurisdiction. Doing so should help encourage the IMO to adopt a globally-recognized ECA, rather than a more limited US-only approach.

One caveat worth noting: earlier this fall, a group of 13 steamships that operate on the Great Lakes convinced Congress to add a budget rider that restricted EPA’s ability to enforce the proposed pollution cuts against their vessels. More recently, some steamship operators off the Alaskan and northwest coasts have been advocating for a similar carve-out. Hopefully, dealing with these niche operators (less than one percent or less of emissions) won’t lead to extra trouble at the IMO meeting in March, just as the existence of a few remaining Model T Fords never stood in the way of EPA's world-class Tier 2 emission standards for cars.

The bottom line: EPA’s rule is strong, and is a welcome holiday present to anybody who cares about clean air.

Get Rid of the Smoke: The NYS Senate Should Pass S.1145-A on Monday

2009-11-13T20:21:22Z

Ever wonder why some buildings in New York have a plume of black smoke coming out of their smokestacks?

That soot comes from #2 heating oil, a close cousin of diesel fuel. It's similar to the diesel fuel in New York's buses and trucks, except it can contain more than 650 times as much sulfur. It's dirty stuff, and it can trigger asthma emergencies and other health ailments when people breathe it. Like all soot pollution, it's especially a threat to children, the elderly and anybody with heart or lung ailments.

On Monday, the New York State Senate has a chance to take a big step to make this plume of smoke a thing of the past.

Here are the particulars: The Senate will meet in a special session on Monday, and may use this opportunity to pass S.1145-A (Perkins), a bill that, when it takes effect in July 2011, will reduce the sulfur level of #2 heating oil to the same level as the clean, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel now used in trucks and buses across the country. (The Assembly has already passed a version of this bill.)

Ever since the fall of 2006, sulfur levels in highway diesel fuel have been capped at 15 parts-per-million (ppm). But #2 heating oil averages about 2,600 ppm in New York, and is permitted to contain up to 10,000 ppm - 666 times the allowable sulfur levels in bus and truck fuel.

Sulfur in heating oil contributes to high concentrations of sulfur dioxides and fine particulate matter in New York State.

Just today, EPA designated much of downstate New York, including New York City, as a "nonattainment area" for its most recent health-based particulate matter standard. This will trigger a legal requirement for the state to create a plan to cut this pollution.

No. 2 home heating oil contributes an estimated 1,155 tons of PM emissions every year in New York City. Passing and implementing S.1145-A would reduce as much pollution as shutting down two and a half coal plants in New York State, and will help the state meet its new legal requirements for particulate matter.

Let's hope the Senate passes this bill on Monday. It's time to get rid of that black plume of sooty smoke, once and for all.

Congratulations to Judith Enck: EPA's next Region 2 Administrator

2009-11-05T22:32:03Z

Today, EPA named Judith Enck as Regional Administrator for Region 2, which covers New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Like many of us at NRDC, I've known Judith for almost twenty years.

Judith is the rare Regional Administrator who comes out of the grass roots environmental advocacy world, yet has substantial state government experience. It's a great combination that will serve her well at Region 2.

Like President Obama, she's got NYPIRG in her blood. When she was at NYPIRG in the 1990s, Judith and I overlapped in the hallways of Albany's Legislative Office Building often. I always thought of her as a smart, passionate, and effective advocate on NYPIRG's key environmental issues, somebody who knew the ins and outs of Albany as well as anybody.

Her move from NYPIRG to become an environmental policy advisor to then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was a loss for the environmental community but a great gain for environmental protection in New York. Her next move to the second floor of the State Capitol brought her knowledge, passion, and energy to both Governor Paterson's and former Governor Spitzer's oversight of environmental budget and policy issues.

Now, Judith Enck is coming to NYC to lead the EPA Region 2 office here.

I'm sure she will do a great job at Region 2. She deserves our congratulations, our support and our applause.

Stimulus News: Cost-Effective Diesel Retrofits Coming to a School Bus or Construction Site Near You!

2009-10-21T17:07:34Z

I just received a copy of EPA's Report to Congress on its Diesel Emissions Reduction Program, and it's encouraging news.

With nearly $50 million in EPA's FY 2008 budget for this program, EPA made 119 grants nationwide that enabled more than 14,000 diesel-powered vehicles to run cleaner. These grants run the gamut of diesel engines - school and transit buses, trucks, farm and construction equipment, cargo-handling equipment at our ports, and so on. And, in many cases, these dirty diesels were equipped with the most advanced diesel soot filters, making them more than 85 percent cleaner.

For years, I've been writing and talking about the cost-effectiveness of diesel clean-up. This report documents that cost-effectiveness clearly: for the government's $50 million investment, the public will receive between $500 million and $1.4 billion in health benefits, thanks to the reduced number of asthma emergencies, bronchitis cases, cancers, heart attacks, and premature deaths that would have been attributable to the diesel pollution that, thankfully, will no longer exist.

Plus, projects funded by these grants will save 3.2 million gallons of fuel per year, saving operators more than $8 million each year (at $2.50/gallon). At a time when many school districts and local governments are struggling with operating budget shortfalls, these cost-savings are critically important.

Much of this money is being spent in nonattainment areas (i.e., cities and towns that don't meet EPA's health-based standards for ozone or particulate soot), in urban environments, and in the low-income communities and communities of color that border many of our nation's ports and other diesel "hotspots." This is good news for those communities that are disproportionately affected by diesel pollution.

The stimulus bill, passed by Congress earlier this year, contains another $300 million for diesel clean-up, which must be spent by next September 30, 2010 in most cases. It's hard to imagine a better investment in cleaner air and improved public health.

Bloomberg and Booker Agree: We Need Cleaner Trucks at our Ports

2009-10-19T22:37:10Z

Yesterday, NYC Mayor Michael P. Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker teamed up with Teamsters President James P. Hoffa to endorse federal legislation that would enable ports around the nation to adopt local green-growth programs to reduce air pollution and improve labor conditions in their midst. NRDC has been working with the Teamsters, the Change-to-Win labor coalition, environmental justice leaders and others to advance this legislation, and here's why:

Our nation's ports bring us the things we want and need, when and where we want them. But our ports are among the nation's most serious diesel "hotspots"-places where trucks, equipment, and ships all congregate, spewing huge quantities of diesel exhaust into the air.

And, because of the economics of the local trucking industry that serves the ports, most of these trucks are older and dirtier than the cleaner models that meet current EPA standards for new trucks.

For example, according to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey data, roughly 16 percent of the frequent callers at the marine terminals in New York Harbor are more than fifteen years old (and therefore predate EPA regulations that require pollution filters), and only 3 percent of these trucks have engines that are certified to meet EPA's current standards. That's the unfortunate reality of a goods movement system that drives costs down and down without regard for any unwanted side effects.

This issue is a growing environmental justice concern. From Los Angeles to Red Hook, Brooklyn and the Ironbound district of Newark, our large ports are surrounded by low-income communities and communities of color who suffer the disproportionate burden of all of these dirty trucks.

My colleague, Melissa Lin Perrella, recently wrote about the one-year anniversary of the Clean Truck Program in Los Angeles. Read the whole post if you can, but if you are in a hurry, here's the gist of it:

By banning the oldest trucks outright, and incentivizing the purchase of newer, cleaner vehicles, Los Angeles officials have removed 2,000 of the oldest, dirtiest trucks from service and have helped their local businesses put nearly 6,000 clean-burning and alternative fuel trucks on the road. In just a year, this program has removed as much pollution as taking 200,000 cars off the road. Plus, in a year when national truck sales are down 60 percent, they are up by one-third in LA.

Unfortunately, this program is being challenged by a Virginia-based trucking lobby that has been fighting the program since the start. They are arguing that federal law prevents ports from conditioning port access on meeting safety, environment, and security-based requirements.

We're asking Congress to remove any doubt that ports can enact solutions that compliment green business growth and protect public health. If we're successful, truck clean-up programs will be easier to install at ports around the country, including here in the NY/NJ region.

And, that will mean cleaner communities, improved public health, better working conditions, and a stronger local trucking industry in the long run.

NY City Council to vote on diesel school bus bill today

2009-09-17T15:03:05Z

Every day, more than 7,000 large and small school buses take thousands of students to and from school. Unfortunately, their free trip to school usually includes a heavy dose of diesel soot pollution-pollution that has been shown to trigger asthma emergencies in dozens of studies from all around the world.

Much of this pollution leaks from the crankcase under the children into the cabin where they sit.

In 2001, my NRDC colleagues in California showed that students in California school buses were exposed to 4-6 times as much toxic soot pollution as passengers in adjacent cars, thanks to the open crankcase systems found on older buses. (The same buses are used here in New York).

Since then, many public health and environmental professionals have replicated this research and found similar results. Equally important, effective crankcase filters have entered the market place to solve the problem.

Later today, the City Council will vote on a bill that will require all of the City's school buses to be retrofit with crankcase filters to protect the children on the bus. It will also require all buses to be retired after sixteen years of service, effectively eliminating the oldest, dirtiest buses from our streets and replacing them with buses that meet the most stringent emissions standards in the world.

It's a smart step forward to help improve the health of our city's children.

This bill is the latest step in a series of groundbreaking laws and programs that have dramatically reduced diesel pollution in the City and around the country.

And, it's a step that reaches back directly to the summer of 1995.

That summer, NRDC's Dump Dirty Diesels Campaign successfully sued for the right to launch an ad campaign on the backs of NYC Transit buses that read, "Standing behind this bus could be more dangerous than standing in front of it."

The MTA story has been told many times before, but it bears repeating: Just as we had to take lead out of gasoline to enable the use of catalytic converters that would make cars dramatically cleaner, we had to take sulfur out of diesel fuel to enable the use of effective pollution-cutting technologies that would clean up our dirty diesel buses and trucks.

Back then, this was an untested approach. There was no such thing as a clean diesel bus, so most advocacy was directed to replacing diesels with clean, but extremely costly alternative fuels like natural gas.

Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel (the diesel equivalent of unleaded gasoline) did not exist in the commercial market yet, and nobody knew whether the new catalysts and filters would work effectively in the rough-and-tumble of 24/7 transit service in New York City.

But Governor Pataki and the MTA worked closely with NRDC to create the clean-fuel bus program that would test this approach (while also investing in natural gas in case the diesel components didn't work as planned).

The program worked - and it has become the model for clean fleets in the City, including this soon-to-be-passed school bus bill.

(An important aside: When the NYC Transit buses showed that the combination of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and effective soot filters would reduce particulate pollution by more than 90 percent in real-world transit service, it helped lay the technical foundation for EPA's regulatory program that now requires ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel for all trucks and buses, as well as requires soot filters on every new truck and bus engine built since 2007.)

Thanks to the MTA program, we know that a diesel-based approach can be clean without requiring an expensive shift in fuels and fueling infrastructure - a critical need in today's tough fiscal climate. In fact, a M.J. Bradley study showed that diesel soot pollution from the NYC Transit fleet has been reduced by 97% since we ran those ads in the summer of 1995, thanks to replacing or retrofitting old diesel clunkers with new buses or engines that use the cleaner fuel and soot filters to cut their emissions.

But here's the problem: because diesel engines last for decades, polluted cities still need to take extra steps to accelerate the retirement and retrofitting of the dirty diesels that have years of active service left.

That's where today's City Council vote comes in.

Over the past eight years, the City Council and the Bloomberg administration have worked together to accelerate the extinction of the City's dirtiest diesels, and diesel clean-up has been a key component of PlaNYC 2030. Laws passed in 2003 and 2005 require ultra-low sulfur diesel and "best available" retrofit technologies to be used in almost every diesel engine under the City's auspices, including construction equipment, many school buses, tour buses, sanitation trucks and other diesel vehicles.

Unfortunately, those laws did not cover school buses that carry fewer than 10 children or the buses that carry children with special needs. And it didn't require the bus operators to close or filter their crankcases.

Intro. 622-A will close this loophole. It will add the extra protection of crankcase filtration for kids while they are on the bus to the public health protections of the 2003 and 2005 laws, and it will bring more of the newest, cleanest school buses to the City as soon as next year.

And that's good news for all of our kids.

EPA's proposal to reduce ship emissions deserves our support

2009-08-04T15:34:55Z

I'm testifying at EPA's hearing today on its proposed regulation to reduce emissions from the largest, dirtiest diesels in our midst-the huge diesel engines (regulated as "Category 3" engines because of their size) that power the ocean-going vessels (OGVs) at our ports. I haven't posted anything for awhile, but this is a topic that I've covered often in the past, so I'm updating Switchboard readers now.

As close readers of my posts know, I've worked closely with EPA staff over the past few years to craft a strategy to reduce OGV emissions. Today, I will be happy to testify that I think the two-pronged strategy they've devised is a strong one.

First, EPA has led the global shipping community to adopt a stronger global commitment to reducing ship emissions worldwide. Last fall, the U.S. delegation to the International Maritime Organization secured a new global pact to reduce ship emissions, and to allow individual countries to create special "Emission Control Areas" to accelerate the reduction of ship emissions off their coast lines.

In March, the Obama administration took advantage of this provision, and began the process of creating such a joint US/Canada Emission Control Area (ECA) within 200 miles of our coastlines.

The IMO will vote on this proposal in March 2010 - and if it passes, ship emissions in the area will use fuel that has 98 percent less sulfur than in current OGV fuel, and will cut their smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 80 percent and their cancer-causing particulate soot (PM)emissions by 85 percent, starting in 2015.

Second, EPA has proposed similar restrictions for all US-flagged ships, just in case the IMO fails to support the US/Canada ECA proposal. Obviously, given the global nature of shipping, we need both prongs to really solve the ship pollution problem. But this EPA proposal for US-flagged ships sends a strong signal to the global shipping industry that the US intends to act swiftly to cut this emissions-and it should help encourage the IMO to adopt a globally-recognized ECA, rather than a more limited approach

Together, EPA's combined OGV strategy is critical to the health of our communities and our region's ability to meet its Clean Air Act requirements. When today's proposal and the ECA designation are both finalized and fully implemented, the environmental and public health benefits of the combined OGV strategy will be substantial.

By 2030, between 13,000 and 33,000 premature deaths and between $110 and $280 billion in health costs will be avoided annually. As with all the other EPA diesel rules over the past decade, these benefits will far, far, far exceed the expected implementation cost of approximately 3.11 billion in 2030. At a return on investment of at least 30:1, it is hard to find a better deal in the public health world.

With the nation engaging in a critical debate about rising health care costs and an aging population, avoiding these health impacts and costs is an urgent need.

Today's proposal is especially critical to the low-income communities and communities of color that exist just beyond the gates of our largest ports. At our local port terminals in New York and New Jersey, nearby communities of Newark, Elizabeth, Brooklyn or Staten Island are hardest hit by port-related emissions. This proposal will help bring some needed relief.

Here's why: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expects container volumes at its terminals to triple by 2020. While the Port Authority is to be commended for convening many diverse stakeholders to create a "Clean Air Strategy" for the port, we know that only EPA can use its regulatory authority to require ship engines to be cleaner. We can work together to retire old trucks, retrofit old switcher locomotives, to convince shippers to slow down as they enter New York Harbor, but the bottom line is that OGVs emit 47 percent of the NOx related to port activities in the region, and 62 percent of the PM2.5 related to port activities in the region. We cannot meet our environmental goals for shipping in the region without cleaner ships.

The previous statistics underscore the importance of EPA's combined OGV strategy to New York, New Jersey, and all other states that are grappling with their upcoming Clean Air Act deadlines for ozone and particulate matter. Even with cleaner cars, trucks, and other sources, far too many people continue to breathe air that fails to meet EPA's ambient air quality standards for these pollutants, and too many states already know that they will not be able to meet some of their upcoming State Implementation Plan requirements without additional regulatory help from EPA.

Reducing ship emissions is the right place for EPA to provide that help. This is because OGV emissions are projected to grow dramatically-without the combined OGV strategy, NOx emissions from ships are projected to more than double, and PM emissions are expected to almost triple by 2030. OGV emissions are also projected to grow in relation to other transportation sources, as cars, trucks, and other mobile sources get progressively cleaner during this period. According to EPA, NOx emissions from OGVs will grow from about six percent of mobile source-related NOx in 2001 to 40 percent of this category in 2030. Likewise, EPA estimates that PM2.5 from OGVs will grow from 10 percent of mobile source-related PM2.5 to 75 percent of this category of emissions in 2030.

What's the bottom line?

EPA's approach is a strong one, and NRDC will be pleased to support it at today's hearing.

What the Stimulus Means for New York

2009-03-12T21:49:43Z

After a four-month hiatus, my monthly column at the Gotham Gazette is back up and running. If you don't know the Gotham Gazette, it's a great place to read about NYC's political and policy debates, with columns on just about every issue getting attention in New York City and State.

This month, I wrote about what the Stimulus package means for New York. It's worth taking a look at if you are wondering what the Stimulus package means in your own state, even if you don't live in New York.

R.I.P. Durango, Tahoe, and Suburban...

2008-10-28T16:40:40Z

This morning, while I was reading latest from the auto world (no, not just the possible merger of GM and Chrylser), I learned that several of the icons of the full-size SUV world, the Dodge Durango, the Chevrolet Tahoe, and the Chevy Suburban, are soon go the way of the Checker Cab.

It's a passage that's worth noting.

Blame it on higher fuel prices this past summer and projections of future high prices to return in the future, blame it on the changes in the credit and leasing market, blame it on declining assets everywhere causing people to reevaluate their need for a multi-ton, steel-framed family vehicle, but the story is now out: last May, GM pulled the plug on its plans to introduce new versions of the Tahoe, the Suburban, and other large SUVs in 2011 - and the company may not even keep selling those vehicles until then.

In related recent news, Chrysler announced that the iconic Dodge Durango and its close cousin, the Chrysler Aspen, would be discontinued by the end of the year, even in its hybrid versions.

What's interesting to me is the point raised by the folks at autobloggreen.com: even hybrid technology can't save these super-sized vehicles in today's rapidly-changing car market. Sure, if you must drive a Durango, you'll actually save more fuel and carbon by switching to the hybrid version than your neighbor saved by switching from a standard Camry to the hybrid version. That's because the standard Camry was already quite fuel-efficient and because the standard Durango is, well, an inefficient truck.

But we are now living in a time when Americans are increasingly looking to cut back. For this moment, it seems that buying a full-sized truck for the once-a-year task of hauling a boat to a lake vacation is just not how most people want to spend their money.

Sure, there were exceptions. My 6'7" brother-in-law found his Suburban to be the only vehicle that really fit his frame, and when we had family get-togethers, it was a blast to have all of grown-ups and all of the kids in the same car. Just last month, we had four adults, four kids, and about a dozen pumpkins in the car after a near-sunset hayride in rural Pennsylvania - the music was blasting, the cousins were laughing, and it was one of those great times that make family visits special. And, no doubt about it, that 1989 Suburban was the only car that could have handled it.

But for most of us, and for most of the time, smaller vehicles easily fit the bill - and we're all voting now with our wallets in favor of those vehicles.

Because, as it turns out, you really can fit all the kids and their soccer gear in most of the smaller SUVs and sedans out there.

New Global Pact to Dump Dirty Diesels at Sea

2008-10-10T21:01:09Z

Good news on the Dump Dirty Diesels Campaign front today...

Yesterday, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted new fuel and emissions standards for large diesel-fueled, ocean-going ships. When fully implemented, this will help reduce pollution by 80 percent or more from even the largest, dirtiest, sootiest cargo ships on the high seas, including those that are foreign-flagged operating in U.S. waters.

Cleaner ships will be good news for anybody who breathes air that is downwind from any of our nation's ports.

And, that's a lot of people: according to the U.S. EPA, more than 87 million Americans live near ports that don't meet EPA's federal health standards for ozone or particulate matter, the key pollutants linked to dirty ship pollution. Millions more live downwind, since the toxic particles can travel for hundreds of miles.

There are two steps to the new IMO program. First, in countries that establish "emissions control areas" (ECAs), large ships will have to use fuel that contains 98 percent less sulfur than the current global cap (1,000 parts per million (ppm) vs. 45,000 ppm). Plus, ships operating in ECAs will have to install pollution-cutting equipment to ultimately achieve reductions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 80 percent, particulate matter (PM) by 85 percent, and sulfur oxides (SOx) by 95 percent, compared to current emissions levels.

Second, all ships in international trade (i.e., even those not in ECAs) will be required to use fuel with no more than 5,000 ppm sulfur by 2020. That's still a 90 percent reduction from today's global cap. Even for these ships, new engine standards will cut NOx emissions by 20 percent and will apply to new engines and to existing engines (as certified low-emission kits become available) beginning in 2011.

Of course, to get the cleaner fuels and ships at our ports, the U.S. must now move forward to establish an ECA for all U.S. coastal areas: east, gulf, and west. This will require an EPA rulemaking under the Clean Air Act, which should start right away.

As regular Switchboard readers know, ship emissions have been a big concern at NRDC for years. My colleagues in California have created some of the most effective, innovative programs for the ports there. Their report, "Harboring Pollution: Strategies to Clean Up U.S. Ports," was the kick-off for a slew of important programs in California and elsewhere.

But even the best local programs have been stuck with a basic truth: no amount of alternatively-fueled cargo handling equipment and dockside electric power for ships unloading their cargo can offset the impact of the world's huge ships belching black particulate soot at uncontrolled levels.

And, as emissions decline from other transportation sources, ship emissions will become a larger part of the nation's pollution inventory. According to EPA, in 2001, oceangoing vessels contributed only about six percent of nitrogen oxide (NOx), 10 percent of particulate matter (PM), and roughly 40 percent of sulfur dioxide (SOx) to the nation's air pollution from mobile sources. Without further controls, pollution will increase to about 34 percent of NOx, 45 percent of PM, and 94 percent of SOx emissions by 2030.

To sum it up, this global agreement will help people breathe in port and other downwind communities in years to come. But to have the maximum benefit, EPA needs to adopt an ECA for our coasts.

Luckily, since EPA staff were the key catalysts in moving the IMO agreement from concept to final agreement (here's a shout-out to Margo Oge and her team at EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, which carried this agreement from concept through years of tough negotiations), I'm extremely hopeful.

Back to School Special: Free Diesel Fumes in Class

2008-09-03T22:43:46Z

An important, new study just came out that addresses the effect of urban planning and road development on the health risk of students attending schools near major roadways.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati looked at the proximity of public school students and major highways in nine large Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) around the country. In sum, they found that more than 30 percent of the students in these MSAs went to schools that were within 400 meters of a major roadway and more than 10 percent went to schools that were less than 100 meters than a highway. For some MSAs, almost half of the student population attended schools near major roadways, resulting in a potentially increased risk for asthma and other chronic respiratory problems.

The authors concluded that proximity of major roadways should be an important factor in considering sites for new schools and developing policies for reducing the exposure in existing schools.

I think this is only half the story.

Sure, we need to do a better job coordinating future urban development, transportation and environmental policies. We must do this.

But we also have to speed up the replacement or retrofitting of the older, smoking diesel buses that service these schools and the trucks that pass by on all of those nearby highways.

Here’s why:

Despite one EPA rule that lowered smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 40 percent in 2004 (and a consent decree that required most engine makers to start selling those engines in October 2002) and another EPA rule that reduced diesel NOx by another 40-50 percent and particulate soot by 90 percent in 2007, more than half of all of the trucks and buses on the roads predate both of these rules and the consent decree.

From the perspective of eliminating the diesel soot particles that can trigger asthma attacks and other emergencies, the picture is even worse. We don’t have bombproof data yet, but it’s safe to say that at least 80 percent of the trucks and buses on the roads today lack the particulate filters that became standard equipment in 2007, thanks to the latest EPA diesel rule. These filters are the only technology that removes almost all of the fine particulate soot from the tailpipes of today’s diesel engines.

And, here’s another important piece of information: According to EPA and other studies, every dollar spent to retrofit an existing diesel engine with a particulate filter yields $12-16 in health benefits. It’s hard to find an example of a more cost-effective pollution expenditure.

As we look to ensure that the diesel problem actually gets solved anytime soon (as compared to waiting 30 years or more for all of today's dirty-yet-durable diesels to die a natural death and be replaced by engines that meet the 2007 or upcoming 2010 standards), as we think about how to best spend transportation and air pollution-related moneys in the next transportation funding bill that Congress will consider next year, and as we think about how to incorporate what we know about diesel exhaust into what planners, governments and developers are doing with smart growth and related land use issues, accelerating the clean-up of the existing diesels should not fall off the radar screen.

Help Dan Save Traffic

2008-08-21T22:02:53Z

Sorry that I’ve been out of the Switchboard loop for awhile. While I was away, my friends at USPIRG held a “21st Century Transportation” video contest and you can watch the winner here. (Kudos to Streetsblog for highlighting this today, and for their continued great work covering the NYC sustainable transportation scene).

The video is about Dan. Dan loves “Sweet Lady Traffic,” loves everything about it. His greatest fear: in next year’s transportation funding bill, Congress will take money away from building highways and spend it on trains and buses. This will, according to the video, “suck the lifeblood out of traffic.”

Take a minute and 41 seconds and watch:

There is, of course, a serious side to this issue.

In response to high gas prices, Americans are turning to transit to get to work and school in numbers that have not been seen since the 1950s. Unfortunately, in too many cities, high diesel prices and transit funding cuts (in part due to lower gas tax receipts) are adding up to overcrowded buses and long delays at exactly the wrong time.

Here are just a few examples: In New York, the transit system faces its worst fiscal crisis since the 1970s, cutting services and facing a 5-year capital funding gap that could be as high as $20 billion; in California, there’s a proposal to cut $1.4 billion from the state’s transit fund for next year; in Cleveland, San Diego and many other cities, services are being cut to fill a budget holes despite record ridership levels. The list could go on and on – according to the American Public Transit Association, roughly one-fifth of the nation’s transit agencies cut services over the past year.

Responding to this transit funding crisis, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6052, the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act, by a vote of 322 to 98 in June. The Act authorizes 1.7 billion dollars to transit agencies across America to expand services and reduce fares.

When the Senate returns to work in September, will it take up a similar effort? Thankfully, Senator Clinton has introduced a Senate version of H.R. 6052, but that’s a long way from passing a bill for the President’s signature.

The bottom line is that we cannot break our addiction to oil, we cannot solve our global warming problems, and we cannot give Americans clean, health air without investing in transit and other alternatives to driving. Support increased funding for transit.