A View From The Hook: Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated'

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated' - Guardian, UK

"One giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50m cars, study finds"
- John Vidal, environment editor, Guardian.com.uk Thursday 9 April 2009 15.50 BST

A fellow concerned neighbor sent me the link to this story from The Guardian.

I think it serves as an appropriate follow up to my previous post about the Container Port in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Thanks Mr. F.

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Quote from Bob Foster, the Mayor of Long Beach, California - "We’re not going to have kids in Long Beach contract asthma so someone in Kansas can get a cheaper television set.”

A docked cargo ship can burn seven tons of diesel fuel a day to run its electrical generators.
Ports along the lower Mississippi River, the New York metro area, and in south Texas rank among those with the dirtiest air.
Surrounding communities and port workers often have higher rates of respiratory infections and a higher risk of cancer. - Wall Street Journal

A Cruise Ship in Port for 1 day = 12, 400 cars - Bluewater Network / via CNN

Chris Ward, Executive Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey : "We estimate that the annual health benefits emissions reductions arising from a switch from on board generation to shore power at the BCT (Brooklyn Cruise Terminal), adjusted for Kings County, approaches $9 Million" (full statement here)

During a typical 10-hour stay in harbor, one single cruise liner produces about 66 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of what 6 Hummers produce in a year - Cruise Liners: A Lucrative But Poisoning Business - Malta Today

A "parked cruise ship idling its engines" burns "700 litres (180 gallons) of unfiltered diesel an hour" - EGRA, East Greenwich Residents Association

Plugging a container ship in to shore-power "takes enough pollution out of the air to equal 33,000 cars” - Mayor Bob Foster

Ships are “floating smokestacks that deliver soot and smog straight into the heart of our most crowded coastal cities” - Environmental Defense Fund

From our own Federal Government - via the Environmental Protection Agency - the E.P.A.

a. Shore power is a crucial step for cleaning our air and improving health of New Yorkers.
b. Ocean going vessels that dock in New York City typically burn high sulfur fuel in diesel engines to generate auxiliary power.
This combustion results in exhaust containing NOx, SOx and particulates and such exhaust is a likely carcinogen.
A Port Authority study shows that use of shore power at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal would annually eliminate 100 tons of NOx, 100 tons of SOx and 6 tons of particulates
c. New York City air quality is among the worst in the nation and port related emissions are meaningful and avoidable."
d. Such air emissions are harmful to the pubic generally, and especially to our children, the elderly, people with lung disease, those who exercise outside, and low-income and minority communities located near ports.
e. Implementation of a shore power tariff is consistent with economic development in New York City.
f. Implementation of an appropriate Shore Power Tariff in New York City would provide an impetus for ship owners to invest in ship-side Shore Power equipment and for widespread use of this technology in other ports on the East Coast.
g. None of the Company's tariff's accurately account for the unique service characteristics of ships that dock in New York City.
h. A high-rate setting working group charged with delivering a shore power recommendation should be convened quickly.

A View From The Hook

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated' - Guardian, UK

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