County to sue EPA over polluting container ships

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District announced yesterday it will sue the Environmental Protection Agency for what the district says is the agency’s failure to regulate air pollutants emitted by container ships.
“EPA has had many chances to change course, and to meet its own deadlines to regulate these ships,” said Terry Dressler, director for the Air Pollution Control District. “Now we are forced to file another suit to achieve regulation of this huge source of air pollution off our coast.”

The district announced in mid October of last year it intended to sue the EPA if it did not respond to its request to begin regulating the polluting ships. As of last week, the district’s deadline had expired.
Dressler has said in past Daily Sound stories that the estimated 7,000 container ships that pass through the Santa Barbara Channel each year are responsible for belching 45 percent of the county’s recorded oxides of nitrogen (NOx) into the air.
If left unregulated, Dressler said container ships could account for 75 percent of county’s NOx by 2020.
According to a statement released by the district, the EPA has repeatedly set dates to regulate container ships, but when the dates near, they grant themselves lengthy extensions.
The statement says the county’s lawsuit will challenge the EPA’s decision on Dec. 4, 2007 to extend the date for regulation to Dec. 31, 2009. The lawsuit was approved by the district’s board, which is made up of the county Board of Supervisors and a representative from each of the county’s cities, on Jan. 17.
The lawsuit will be filed in federal court, the statement says.
“Large ships are one of the last uncontrolled and unregulated major sources of air pollution,” the statement says. “Their massive two-stroke engines produce as much power as a small power plant and burn residual fuel oil, a particularly dirty fuel.”