Cargo Ships Get Pollution Pass in California

California has been dealt another setback in trying to combat in-state pollution, when a federal appeals court this week rejected a state regulation that would have reduced emissions from ships near shore.

International shipping is one of the major sources of smog-forming pollution in the Los Angeles region, and microscopic soot from diesel engines can lodge in lungs, triggering heart attacks, asthma and other cardiovascular and respiratory problems, scientists say.

This week’s ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a setback to California’s efforts to force ships to control engine emissions and burn cleaner fuel as they approach the coast. The court ruled that the state Air Resources Board can't impose its ship rule unless it seeks a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The ship rule was adopted in 2005 and implemented last year. It addressed the use of auxiliary diesel engines within 24 nautical miles of the coast, which emit an estimated 1,400 tons a year of particulates in the L.A. Basin and account for about 15 percent of the region's diesel emissions.

The Clean Air Act allows California to set its own standards for various vehicles and engines if it receives waivers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but the state argued that in this case it didn't technically need a waiver. The judges disagreed. The ruling means that the state must now seek federal approval before imposing pollution limits on the thousands of cargo ships, cruise ships and other marine vessels that visit its ports.

The California Air Resources Board immediately stopped enforcing the ship rule, but the state is expected to either appeal to the Supreme Court or seek a waiver from the EPA. On the federal level, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has introduced a bill, S.1499,  that would essentially take the air board's rules national, imposing them all along the U.S. coast.

The case is strikingly similar to the stance that the EPA took on California’s recent bid to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal law required. The feds also shot down that idea, and it was reported this week that congressional investigators are probing whether EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson was swayed by political pressure when he decided not to allow California to enact the stricter vehicle emission standards.