Tag: California

$5 million in Loans for clean tug-boats, ferries, fishing boats and excursion boats The California Air Resources Board has received $5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds to help clean up a variety of boats and vessels that operate in California's ports and harbors.These funds are designed to reduce emissions from a variety of marine vessels that use diesel engines, such as charter fishing boats, commercial fishing boats, crew and supply vessels, ferry and excursion boats, pilot vessels, tow boats, tug-boats and work boats. The funds will be used to guarantee loans for small businesses who wish to upgrade to cleaner operating boats, but may not meet today's stringent borrowing standards."This one-time influx of federal funds makes it possible for small business owners to qualify for a loan to upgrade their boats, even if they have less than stellar credit," said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "This will help continue our efforts to clean up the air in California's ports and harbor communities."To be eligible a company owning one of these vessels must have fewer than 500 employees, and conduct the majority of their business in California or regulated California waters. In addition, the company must meet a ...

Effective from 28 March 2012 The state of California has announced a no-discharge zone (NDZ) for passenger vessels of 300 grt or more having berths or overnight accommodations, and oceangoing vessels of 300 grt or more, with available holding tank capacity, or containing sewage generated while the vessel was outside of the marine waters of the state of California.To ensure compliance with these new local rules, ship owners are advised to do the following:Vessels without dedicated sewage holding tank(s) may enter Californian waters and discharge treated sewage from sewage treatment system as before. Vessels without sewage treatment system, only holding tank(s), are not allowed to discharge any sewage to sea inside the NDZ.Vessels with sewage treatment plant and dedicated sewage holding tank(s) (treated or untreated): The ship's holding tank(s) must be "de minimis" discharged prior to entering California waters. The vessel must refrain from discharging any sewage (treated or untreated) as long as there is remaining holding tank capacity.If the vessel reaches maximum holding tank capacity, discharge of "properly treated sewage" is only allowed through a type-approved sewage treatment system.If the vessel is entering the NDZ with sewage in its holding tank(s), the vessel is not allowed to discharge any ...

Draft amendments California State Lands Commission (CSLC) has issued another draft biofouling requirement with a 15 day window of comment ending 16 March.Comments, however, have been confined to certain sections of the draft which relate to:procedures for the presumption of compliance for sea chest gratings, bow and stern thrusters, and bow and stern thruster gratings requirements relating to vessels deemed to be in gross excess of the performance standards procedures for the presumption of compliance for sea chests. The full text of the draft amendments can be viewed hereSource: California State Lands Commission

EPA - New regulations to become mandatory from mid-March 2012 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is establishing a No Discharge Zone (NDZ) for marine waters of the state of California for sewage discharges from all passenger vessels of 300 gross tones or greater, and for oceangoing vessels of 300 gross tons or greater with available holding tank capacity or containing sewage generated while the vessel was outside California marine waters.California marine waters extend out to three nautical miles from the baseline. The designation comes into effect on March 28. For more information, click here.Further information can be found in a fact sheet published by the EPA.Source: EPA

New regulations to become mandatory from mid-March 2012 On 9 February 2012 the Final Rule establishing the California No Discharge Zone (NDZ) was signed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Final Rule will enter into force 30 days after being published in the Federal Register. It is expected that the new regulations will become mandatory from mid-March 2012 although an exact date has not yet been advised by the EPA.The new regulations will prohibit the discharge of treated and untreated sewage in an area along the California coast from the Oregon border to the Mexican border within California marine waters extending seawards a distance of three nautical miles from the baseline as determined by the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, and within all tidal enclosed bays and estuaries. The existing California NDZs covering ten bays and marinas remain in effect. The EPA has published a map showing the areas concerned.Foreign flag and United States flagged vessels are affected as follows:Large Passenger Vessels of 300 GT of over, which have berths or overnight accommodation for passengers.Large Oceangoing Vessels of 300 GT or over, including military, governmental, commercial and private vessels, which are equipped with ...

California no-discharge zone along entire coast U.S. EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld will sign a rule that will finalize EPA's decision and approve a state proposal to ban all sewage discharges from large cruise ships and most other large ocean-going ships to state marine waters along California's 1,624 mile coast from Mexico to Oregon and surrounding major islands. This action establishes a new federal regulation banning even treated sewage from being discharged in California's marine waters."This is an important step to protect California's coastline. I want to commend the shipping industry, environmental groups and U.S. EPA for working with California to craft a common sense approach to keeping our coastal waters clean." said Gov. Jerry Brown."By approving California's 'No Discharge Zone,' EPA will prohibit more than 20 million gallons of vessel sewage from entering the state's coastal waters," said Jared Blumenfeld. "Not only will this rule help protect important marine species, it also benefits the fishing industry, marine habitats and the millions of residents and tourists who visit California beaches each year."This action strengthens protection of California's coastal waters from the adverse effects of sewage discharges from a growing number of large vessels. Several dozen cruise ships make ...

Some of the most polluted places in the world are shipping ports Some of the most polluted places in the world are shipping ports, and their environmental degradation can result in a multitude of health problems. In the United States, California has the toughest environmental regulations in the nation when it comes to air quality at the ports.

To preserve California's role as an international trade leader Public officials and maritime industry leaders joined together at the Port ofOakland to call on Congress to release funds collected from California's port customers to improve maritime infrastructure, create jobs, and preserve California's role as an international trade leader."California's future as a global leader depends on much needed job creation and economic growth. Utilizing the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund surplus doesn't cost anyone a dime in new taxes, and it would immediately boost our trade competitiveness, invest in California's infrastructure, and help to grow jobs on our waterfront, our farms and our manufacturing floors," said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking against the backdrop of container cranes in the Port of Oakland's Inner Harbor.Every year, California's port customers pay more than $400 million in fees into a federal fund with assurances that the money will be available to fund the navigational maintenance and improvements necessary to keep U.S. ports competitive in a global marketplace. Unfortunately, the revenues deposited in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund are not being spent and, instead of investing these funds to keep our ports competitive, the Trust Fund has now built up a surplus of over $5 ...

State's regulations to conform to North American ECA California's Air Resources Board (CARB) has approved amendments to it state law "Fuel Sulphur and Other Operational Requirements for Ocean-Going Vessels within California Waters and 24 Nautical Miles of the California Baseline" .The controversial Ocean-Going Vessels (OGV) Clean Fuel Regulations are intended to reduce the public's exposure to air pollutants from the use of marine diesel fuel in main and auxiliary engines, and auxiliary boilers, on ocean-going vessels operating within 24 nautical miles of the California shoreline (baseline).The amendments are intended to further align the OGV Clean Fuel Regulations with the recently adopted North American Emission Control Area (ECA). Under the North American ECA, OGVs sailing within a 200 nm zone of the North American coastline are required to use fuels with no more than 1.0 percent sulphur from 1 August, 2012 and no more than 0.1 percent sulphur from 1 January, 2015.Unlike the California regulations the North American ECA does not specify what type of fuel must be used; it only establishes a fuel sulphur limit. To align California's Phase 1 fuel requirements with the North American ECA's August 2012 fuel sulphur requirement is to include a 1.0 percent fuel sulphur ...

The public hearing will be held in Sacramento on June 23 The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has posted a Notice of Public Hearing to consider amendments to the state regulations for sulphur in fuel and other operational requirements for ocean-going vessels within California waters and 24 nautical miles of the California baseline. The public hearing will be held in Sacramento on June 23.The proposal, if adopted, would include, within the regulated area, waters within 24 nautical miles of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. It would also change the implementation date for Phase 2 of the programme (when ocean-going vessels would be limited to using distillate fuels containing no more than 0.1% sulphur) from 1 January 2012 to 1 January 2014.The change would more closely align California's requirements with recently adopted federal standards and provide vessel operators with more flexibility to acquire compliant fuels. Source: California Air Resources Board