Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permits for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of a Vessel - Federal Register

Posted December 8, 2011 - Federal Register

A Notice by the Environmental Protection Agency on 12/08/2011
This article has a comment period that ends in 75 days (02/21/2012) 

Summary - EPA Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are publishing for comment a draft NPDES Vessel General Permit (VGP) that would authorize discharges incidental to the normal operation of non-military and non-recreational vessels greater than or equal to 79 feet in length. If finalized, this draft VGP would replace the current VGP, which was issued in December 2008 and expires on December 19, 2013. EPA is also proposing a draft NPDES Small Vessel General Permit (sVGP) to authorize discharges incidental to the normal operation of non-military and non-recreational vessels less than 79 feet in length. EPA is proposing the sVGP to authorize discharges from vessels less than 79 feet in length, because the P.L. 110-299 moratorium (subsequently extended by P.L. 111-215) expires on December 18, 2013. These laws generally provide that no NPDES permits shall be required for incidental discharges (except discharges of ballast water) from vessels less than 79 feet and commercial fishing vessels. EPA is soliciting comment on today's draft VGP and draft sVGP. Comments on any aspect of the permit, including the fact sheet discussions and economic analyses supporting the Agency's tentative decisions, are welcome. Note that in many places, EPA requests comments on specific aspects of today's draft permits; these specific solicitations are meant to highlight for commenters areas on which they may wish to focus, most often because these areas involve provisions not contained in the 2008 VGP. The requests for comment on specific aspects of the permit should not be interpreted as discouraging comment on other provisions or aspects of the draft permits.


Complete Document at:
http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/12/08/2011-31576/draft-national-pollutant-discharge-elimination-system-npdes-general-permits-for-discharges

UN’s Maritime Agency to Weigh Setting Price on Ship Emissions - bloomberg.com

Posted: By Kim Chipman and Ewa Krukowska - Dec 7, 2011 7:21 AM ET - Bloomberg.com

The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ shipping agency, will next year consider how to set a price on greenhouse-gas emissions from ships that contribute to climate change.
The London-based IMO’s environmental panel will give “priority consideration” on whether to set a global levy or establish an emissions-trading program, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said today in an interview in Durban, South Africa.
The UN agency has been unable to agree on measures to curb emissions from ships for more than a decade. The European Union, which runs the world’s biggest carbon trading system, has said it may present its own proposal next year to limit the industry’s pollution if IMO doesn’t find a solution.
Global maritime transport accounts for almost 3 percent of carbon-dioxide discharges, and emissions from ships are expected to increase from 150 percent to 250 percent by 2050, according a report by WWF and Oxfam published in September.
Mitropoulos declined to comment on when a decision may be made or how much revenue may be raised from a tax or trading program. He stressed that any new rules for shipping emissions must apply to all vessels regardless of country.
“For this system to succeed, ships should comply with the same global standards all over the world,” he said. “Were we to move to different standards for different ships you would have a major problem.”
A proposal at the Durban summit calls for using charges on shipping fuels as a way to channel money into a UN climate aid fund. The plan is part of discussions on how to establish a new Green Climate Fund and raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help vulnerable nations deal with global warming.

Carbon Price

The proposal is significant because it identifies the first potential private source of income for the fund.
The draft UN document proposes that “financial resources” raised by unspecified actions to be taken by the IMO to cut bunker fuel emissions be channeled into both the UN’s mooted Green Climate Fund and into providing compensation to developing nations whose companies are affected by the extra shipping costs.
 
Complete Post at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-07/un-s-maritime-agency-to-weigh-setting-price-on-ship-emissions.html

Durban: UN aviation agency touts green initiatives, but emissions reductions nowhere to be seen - Environmental Defense Fund

Posted - By Jenny Cooper  - December 7, 2011 - Environmental Defense Fund


EDF has a team here in Durban, South Africa for two weeks to participate in the UN climate summit. One of the issues we’re engaged on in the negotiations is reducing emissions from international aviation and maritime shipping.
With tens of thousands of people from around the world here to discuss a global response to climate change, the daily schedule is always packed full of official negotiations, large plenary meetings, and press conferences.
Each day also features a number of “side events” — events outside the official negotiations put on by any “observer” of the climate negotiations, including countries, UN agencies,  and non-governmental organizations (like EDF) — which serve as an important venue for information sharing, creative thinking, and open discussion on policy recommendations.
Earlier in the conference, I attended “Emissions from international transport – global actions for global industries,” a side event jointly hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agencies for aviation and maritime shipping affairs, respectively.
For nearly fifteen years, member states of ICAO have been toiling over how to reduce carbon pollution from the aviation sector. To date, ICAO has yet to design or implement a measure to curb such emissions and shows no sign of progress in the near future.  (It’s worth noting that the UNFCCC negotiations on international transport don’t aim to create an emissions reduction mechanism. Rather, countries here in Durban are trying to agree on a decision that would encourage ICAO and IMO to hasten their work to reduce emissions from their respective sectors.)
Given this history, the side event at the climate negotiations was stunning: ICAO spent nearly all its 45 minute event lauding its recent initiatives to reduce emissions, calling them “miraculous.”
So what ICAO climate initiatives are worthy of such praise? None.
ICAO’s current efforts to reduce emissions from aviation amount to a do-nothing plan: global inspirational goals to improve fuel efficiency and achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020.
What exactly does this mean? It means:

1. Neither countries nor carriers have any legal requirements to reduce their total emissions; and
2. Aviation emissions can grow unfettered until 2020, at which point emissions could plateau if countries voluntarily take actions to mitigate emissions growth.

Complete Post at:
http://blogs.edf.org/climatetalks/2011/12/07/durban-un-aviation-agency-touts-green-initiatives-but-emissions-reductions-nowhere-to-be-seen/

Brief Note About a ‘Slow Onset Disaster’ - ABC News

Posted - Dec 7, 2011 6:13pm -By Bill Blakemore -  ABC News


… with a good Jeopardy answer, plus a minor footnote
Nature’s Edge Notebook: Durban Diary

“Slow Onset Disaster” is a phrase that’s been used for decades by specialists in the United Nations system who help people prepare for and deal with … slow onset disasters.
For example, drought.
There is often enough warning time for groups like the U.N.’s ISDR office (for International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) to prepare people to lessen the suffering, financial loss and natural destruction that can be reasonably predicted as the ancient and familiar patterns of drought begin to set in.
Man made global warming is the mother of slow onset disasters.
Only it’s now beginning to speed up.
And it didn’t come with an instruction manual.
The recent increase of extreme weather around the world – and, ominously, in both hemispheres at once – fits the patterns predicted 40 years ago by the world’s scientists for increased frequency of such events, and in some cases (such as heavy downpours and snowfall) increased severity.
Man made global warming and ocean acidification began slowly in the 1800′s as the burning of coal spurred an industrial revolution, pouring more and more invisible heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) up through chimneys into the atmosphere where much of it hangs around for 50 years and longer.
What distinguishes global warming from other slow onset disasters is that there’s hardly a realm of human activity that it does not affect – in citird and villages, banks and businesses, schools and living rooms, embassies and movie theaters.
The entire UN system is trying to help deal with these effects in many ways. Today it gave a glimpse of how.
The world is generally aware of negotiations like those here at the annual global climate summit wrestling over how to set a price for the world on carbon emissions … and how to get the rich nations, who put most of the CO2 in the air, to chip in and help poor countries, who put little CO2 in the air, adjust to the unwanted changes now advancing fast upon them.
Less well known is the network of 29 organizations that make up “The UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination” – the CEB.
They are working together in an effort to help countries deal with the climate problem.
They include a few familiar acronyms like UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) and the WHO (the World Health Organization) … but some are less familiar to the public:  WFP (World Food Programme), UPU (Universal Postal Union – helps coordinate postal rates between countries) and IMO (International Maritime Organization – see below.)

Complete Post at:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/12/brief-note-about-a-slow-onset-disaster/

ABB to promote ‘cold ironing’ in UK - Maritime Journal

 Posted December 7, 2011 - Maritime Journal

ABB Marine and Cranes is working to promote the environmental and commercial benefits of the use of shore-to-ship high voltage electrical connection technology to the UK.

Also known as 'cold ironing' and 'alternative marine power', ABB describes the technology as “essentially the port operator providing a connection to the local electricity network for the vessel. This allows the vessel to shut down its diesel engines thereby cutting all airborne emissions (CO2 plus other emissions such as NOx, SOx and particulates). In addition to the significant benefit to the environment, a reduction in noise pollution and vibration is realized which has a positive effect on local communities.”
According to ABB, there has been a common concern in the industry around the matter of global standards, something that has recently been addressed by the publication of the IEC 'publicly available standard' (IEC/ISO/IEEE 60092-510) which aims to ensure global compatibility for connections, communication and protection.
Stuart Melling, account manager for ABB Marine and Crane business unit said: "This development removes some of the uncertainty a port and vessel operator would have around investing in this technology. The environmental benefits are clear, most of our customers accept this but also want to avoid investing in a 'white elephant'. Now that a global standard has been published, the prospect of using this solution to achieve port and vessel environmental targets (such as energy efficiency and carbon dioxide reduction) is much more compelling.

Complete Post at:
http://www.maritimejournal.com/news101/abb-to-promote-cold-ironing-in-uk

UPDATE 2-Shipping cash may help fund climate-draft - Reuters

 Posted - Tue Dec 6, 2011 7:55am EST - By Nina Chestney - Reuters

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Cash raised by the shipping industry's efforts to cut carbon emissions might be directed to developing countries to help them tackle climate change, according to a draft document seen by Reuters at United Nations climate talks on Tuesday.
The text proposes that money raised by "specific actions" to reduce emissions from maritime bunker fuels, which may be designed and implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), could be directed to developing countries and used to aid climate adaptation through a Green Climate Fund.
Negotiators will discuss the proposal, which was put forward by developing countries, on Tuesday.
Several delegates at a U.N. climate summit in Durban doubted there would be agreement on it, expecting any final deal at the end of the week would be worded vaguely.
Clarity on sources of climate funding could help revive the flagging U.N. talks, which end this weekend, where nearly 200 countries are trying to make progress towards clinching a new global climate treaty.
"I don't expect any clear outcome but if something stays in the text, it would be a big step in a small way," said Bas Eickhout, European Member of Parliament.
"Everything boils down to where is the money? I think that the entire financial decision is going to be a big deal in Rio," he added, referring to a U.N. conference on sustainable development in June next year.


Complete Post at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/climate-maritime-idUSL5E7N61DS20111206

EPA Releases Vessel General Permit to Improve Regulations on Ballast Discharges - Port of Entry® and Medio Ambiente Online

Posted December 6, 2011 -  Port of Entry® and Medio Ambiente Online

CHICAGO -- The federal government took another tentative step toward protecting the Great Lakes and vulnerable coastal waters from the scourge of invasive species with proposed limitations on their chief delivery vehicle: ballast water dumping by commercial vessels. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new national permit to deal with discharges of ballast water that are a normal part of operating freighters and other large commercial vessels. As a result of a legal settlement, that permit will limit the number of invasive species that vessels can dump in the Great Lakes and other water bodies. Unfortunately, EPA’s new limits are pegged to standards established by the International Maritime Organization, which while supported by the shipping industry, are not strict enough to prevent the introduction and spread of invasive organisms which currently cost the eight Great Lakes states over $1 billion every five years.
"It is hard to see the movement of invasive species until it is too late,” said Thom Cmar, attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Unfortunately, out of sight, out of mind has meant that we have not dealt with the problem of ‘living pollution’ as aggressively as other environmental threats like oil spills or toxic releases. The new proposed ballast water permit is par for that course---it is a start, but nowhere near what is needed to stop these uninvited critters from sapping our most valuable water resources.”
The permit update comes on the heels of a long legal battle to force EPA to regulate ballast water under the Clean Water Act.  Protective limits on invasive species in vessels’ ballast discharges are necessary to prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species carried in the ballast tanks from overseas ports. Species like the zebra and quagga mussels, spiny water fleas, and round gobies have all arrived to the Great Lakes via the unregulated discharge of contaminated ballast water.
“Since the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes has been ground zero for freshwater invasions from overseas vessels,” said Jennifer Nalbone, Director of Navigation and Invasive Species for Great Lakes United. “The EPA’s VGP is a real opportunity to advance protection for the Great Lakes and the nation. After decades of painfully slow progress, our waters deserve a leap forward in protection, not a baby step.”
While the new permit represents an improvement over previous versions, conservation groups and scientists are concerned that the weak international standards are not strict enough to prevent the next major invasive species threat. International Maritime Organization ballast water standards are not scientifically based and offer only a marginal improvement over the current practice of flushing ballast tanks with saltwater.

Complete Post at:
http://www.medioambienteonline.com/web/guest/green_economy_news/article/-/article/iY0h/14137/-1/205571/epa-releases-vessel-general-permit-to-improve-regulations-on-ballast-discharges