POLA Receives Emissions Reduction Grant

By Mark Edward Nero

The Port of Los Angeles has received a $469,000 grant award from the US Environmental Protection Agency to retrofit cargo handling equipment. The port secured the grant on behalf of two terminal tenants – SA Recycling and APM Terminals.

The port will administer the grant funds for the project, which involves retrofitting 14 pieces of cargo handling equipment with diesel particulate filters.

The retrofit is expected to result in a reduction in particulate matter emissions by 85 percent and carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions by 90 percent. Retrofitted equipment is to include a top handler, material handlers, loaders, haul trucks and a bulldozer. The project is expected to be completed by December 2015.

Although the port will oversee the grant project, SA Recycling and APM Terminals own the cargo handling equipment and will conduct the retrofits.

The grant is funded through the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program. The Port of LA was one of six ports nationwide to receive EPA funds as part of the DERA grants program, which focuses on retrofitting, replacing or repowering diesel engines to reduce harmful emissions.

SA Recycling, a metal recycler, has had operations at the Port of Los Angeles since 1962 and also operates over 50 recycling facilities throughout California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

APM Terminals, which operates a 400-acre container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, has business interests in 70 port and terminal facilities globally.

West Coast Ports Awarded EPA Grants

By Mark Edward Nero

Four West Coast ports as well as two on the East Coast will share a total award of $4.2 million in grant funding for clean diesel projects, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced April 8.

The ports of Hueneme, Los Angeles, Seattle and Tacoma, as well as the Maryland Port Administration and the Virginia Port Authority, will share the funding. The grants, part of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, will fund projects such as replacing older heavy-duty drayage trucks with trucks powered by 2010 or newer certified engines, retrofitting cargo handling equipment with diesel particulate filters and supplying shoreside power to ocean going vessels.

“Ports are the main gateway for US trade and are critical to our country’s economic growth, yet the communities surrounding ports face serious environmental challenges,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a statement. “Through collaboration and innovation, we can achieve the goals of economic growth and environmental stewardship.”

The Port of Seattle is set to receive the most funding, $1.2 million, which is to go toward a drayage truck replacement project. The project provides incentives to replace 40 older heavy-duty drayage trucks with trucks powered by 2010 or newer certified engines.

The Port of Tacoma has been awarded about $602,000 for a project to repower a Tier 0 switcher locomotive with a Tier 3-Plus engine equipped with an automatic start-stop system to reduce idling.

The Port of Hueneme was awarded $500,000 for a project to complete the electrification of a major wharf and allow the port to supply shoreside power to ocean going vessels at all three berths simultaneously, thereby reducing emissions from ship idling.

The Port of Los Angeles is to receive $469,000 for a project to retrofit 14 pieces of cargo handling equipment at the port with diesel particulate filters.

The Maryland Port Administration and Virginia Port Authority were awarded $750,000 each for emission reductions projects at their ports.

Diesel Emission Reduction Act Renewed By Congress

Lost in the spotlight of the tax-compromise legislation, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, and the START Treaty ratification, the 111th Congress did manage to pass a few other pieces of legislation during its final two weeks.

On Dec. 20, following an earlier Senate approval, the House passed a five-year extension of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. The bill now awaits President Obama’s signature.

The bill, if signed, would authorize providing grants and loans worth $500 million over the next five years to reduce emissions from existing diesel engines through the installation of retrofitting equipment.

First authorized in 2005, and set to at the end of fiscal year 2011 if not extended, the DERA has provided $465 million to retrofit programs over the past five years.
The catch is that the bill only authorizes the $500 million in funds, but does not appropriate them. The 112th Congress must take up that battle in the coming session.
According to data from the Diesel Technology Forum, retrofit diesel vehicles emit 20 percent to 90 percent less emissions.

Supporters of the bill claim that for every $1 of DERA money spent over the past five years, the nation has experienced $20 in environmental or health benefits.
Federal estimates suggest that there are as many as 11 million older diesel trucks and other commercial vehicles or pieces of equipment in service.

With retrofit devices typically costing in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $20,000, the $500 million target for DERA would only provide enough funds to fully cover the costs of roughly 25,000 to 50,000 retrofits.

A program at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to bring all ports-servicing trucks up to 2007 or newer emission standards began in October 2008 and though DERA funds did not play a role, the private trucking industry did spend more than $600 million to bring the less than 10,000 trucks still servicing the two ports into compliance, mainly through the purchase of newer vehicles.

The DERA legislation was introduced in the Senate by Delaware Senator Tom Carper and Ohio Senator George Voinovich. The House version was sponsored by California Representatives Doris Matsui and Laura Richardson.