Tag: EPA VGP

In compliance with the latest drilling safety rules following the Gulf of Mexicodisaster Environmental impact assessments will have to be submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) from today for oil and gas drilling in New Zealand's ocean territory, the Government has announced.Operators will also need to comply with the latest drilling safety rules developed in the United States following the inquiries into the Gulf of Mexico disaster.Environment Minister Nick Smith said the rules were interim measures until new legislation was enacted.He has introduced a bill to Parliament to manage the environmental effects of activities in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Extended Continental Shelf (ECS).It will have its first reading next month, go to a select committee for public submissions, and be passed in the first half of next year, if National wins the November election.Opposition parties have been pressing for rules around oil exploration and Dr Smith said his bill was part of the Government's agenda to grow the economy while ensuring the environment was protected."This legislation puts in place a robust system of environmental controls for the huge ocean and seabed area 20 times that of New Zealand's landmass that is currently unregulated," Dr Smith said."This ...

Sewage from vessels in Jamaica Bay The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice stating that it received a petition from the State of New York seeking determination that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for waters of Jamaica Bay.Comments on the petition should be submitted by September 2.For more information, click here.Source: EPA

It denied a petition filed by the Lake Carriers' Association The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a petition filed by the Lake Carriers' Association (LCA) for review of the nationwide Vessel General Permit (VGP) issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the discharge of pollutants incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels operating on the navigable waters of the United States - Lake Carriers' Association v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 09-1001. The LCA raised a number of procedural challenges, all related to EPA's decision to incorporate into the permit various conditions that States submitted to protect their own water quality. The court found that the LCA had not shown that the additional procedures they requested would have had any effect on the final EPA permit.Source : INTERTANKO

Aims to promote sustainable economic growth by reducing pollution The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), joined by the Coalition for Responsible Transportation and the Environmental Defense Fund, is launching a new initiative to protect public health and the environment and promote sustainable economic growth by reducing pollution from thousands of short-haul trucks that service the nation's ports.The new EPA SmartWay initiative will green the nation's supply chain by reducing harmful diesel emissions from dray trucks - large diesel trucks that are widely used in port facilities to haul freight from cargo ships to nearby local distribution points."U.S. ports generate jobs and are critical to our nation's economy," said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "EPA's SmartWay dray truck initiative will help ports contribute to their local economies - while protecting the air quality, environment and public health of nearby communities."Many of the dray trucks today are older and dirtier than trucks used on highways, and contribute to serious public health and environmental challenges at ports and surrounding areas. Model year 1994 and older dray trucks emit approximately 60 times more fine particle (PM 2.5) emissions than model year 2007 and newer trucks. PM 2.5 is ...

EPA and USCG announced an agreement The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Coast Guard (USCG) today announced an agreement to jointly enforce US and international air pollution requirements for vessels operating in US waters.The requirements establish limits on nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and require the use of fuel with lower sulphur content, protecting people's health and the environment by reducing ozone-producing pollution, which can cause smog and aggravate asthma. The most stringent requirements apply to ships operating within 200 nautical miles of the coast of North America.From August 2012 the US and Canadian ECA will enter into force and the maximum permissible sulphur level in fuel oil will be 1.0 %. From 2015 the maximum permissible sulphur level will be lowered to 0.1 %. Additional information may be found from the links below:EPA, Coast Guard Announce Agreement to Enforce Air Pollution Requirements for Vessels Operating in U.S. Waters Designation of North American Emission Control Area to Reduce Emissions from Ships: Regulatory Announcement North American Emission Control AreaSource: BIMCO

It would give the EPA six months to decide on air pollution permits The House has approved a bill removing a barrier to companies seeking to drill for oil in some areas offshore.The measure was approved on Wednesday by 253-166 vote. It would give the Environmental Protection Agency six months to decide on air pollution permits for offshore rigs or platforms exploring for oil. It also limits challenges to the EPA's appeals board and restricts which emissions can be evaluated.Shell Oil Co. scrapped plans to drill in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska in February after the appeals board said it would review its permit.The delay has been criticized by Republicans for blocking oil production and is the primary reason for the bill.The White House opposes the measure, saying it deprives citizens of a way to challenge permits and would also increase air pollution.Source: Huffington Post

EPA donates $2.5M to United Nations University in Tokyo to track e-waste US regulators are paying more attention to electronic waste shipped illegally to foreign countries and shipowners may face increasing scrutiny overseas.On May the US Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a five-year, $2.5M grant to United Nations University in Tokyo to help track shipments of used electronic items such as computers, TVs and mobile phones from North America to African and Asian countries.The shipments, known as e-waste, become toxic when they are opened and their parts melted down in efforts by businesses and individuals in developing countries to distill precious metals to sell to scrap dealers.

For each covered vessel between 30 and 36 months 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EL X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Section 4.4.4 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP) requires permit holders to submit a one-time report for each covered vessel between 30 and 36 months after coverage by the VGP.For vessels applying for coverage at the 18 December 2011 implementation date of the first VGP, this means that this report is due anytime between 18 June 2011 and 18 December 2011.In order to facilitate submission of this report, the EPA is developing an electronic system which should significantly reduce the time necessary for preparation and submission of the report.Due to "minor complications" in the development of this new system capability, which will likely delay its availability beyond the 18 June 2011 date, permit holders are urged to wait until this electronic reporting capability is available.The status of this system can be monitored at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/vessels as well as its online availability when finalised. Source: Chamber of Shipping of America

Five categories of treatment systems The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board issued its draft Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems Report on 31 May.The report in its final form could form the foundation of Federal and State legislation on ballast water treatment and as such has some important conclusions regarding the ability of ballast water treatment systems to be able to meet more stringent requirements than those in the IMO's Ballast Water Convention.The significant outcome of the report suggests that there are five categories of treatment systems** currently available to the shipping industry that can meet the IMO standard (Phase 1 of the proposed U.S. Federal rules). However, to meet standards 100x or 1000x more stringent would require a whole new process of treatment and measurement of effectiveness as opposed to improvements on the current systems.Noting current limitations on the ballast water treatment and testing protocols, the Report recommends: a risk-based systems approach to setting goals and implementing ballast water management; the use of improved sampling protocols for verifying discharge concentrations; the development of reliable protocols for compliance monitoring; and even the consideration of reception facilities to treat ballast water discharges - it seems the use of ...

The ship contains many tonnes of hazardous asbestos, toxic paints and fuel residues After being banned in Bangladesh, a toxic-laden ship, Probo Koala, is headed towards Indian shores for dismantling, a global group of activists called 'NGO Shipbreaking Platform' has warned.The ship, a 1989-built oil carrier cargo vessel weighing 31,255 tonnes now named Gulf Jash, was banned from entering Bangladesh waters recently after environmentalists in neighbouring countries warned the government about it.The ship has been in the thick of controversy in Africa and Europe. Its previous owner, a company called Trafigura, tried to offload its on-board toxic material in Amsterdam. It was detected in time and when the authorities imposed heavy charges for proper disposal, the company decided to instead send the ship to Africa.After trying its luck in Nigeria, the company finally found a dealer in Ivory Coast to dump the chemicals off board. Hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals were poured into the country's largest city, Abidjan. NGO Shipbreaking Platform said the toxic dumps lead to the death of 16 people and thousands of people falling ill.The company had to reportedly settle cases out of court by paying out 30 million pounds to the victims and nearly 100 ...