Bunker Fuel Ban Urged After Week of Spills
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14 (OneWorld) - Environmentalists are calling for an international ban on bunker fuel, a particularly noxious petroleum product used to power most ocean-going cargo ships, including those responsible for massive spills this week in the Black Sea and San Francisco Bay.
Environmentalists note bunker fuel literally comes from the bottom of the oil barrel, describing it as "asphalt-like gunk" left behind after crude oil is refined into gasoline and diesel for cars and trucks. "The bunker fuel is a heavy petroleum byproduct that's left over after the distilling process. It tends to be where the impurities that we distill out of our gasoline and diesel end up," said James Corbett, a professor at the University of Delaware's College of Marine and Earth Studies. It also happens to be much cheaper than other fuel sources. As a result, shipping companies buy it up in an effort to deliver higher profits for themselves and savings for consumers. Cargo ships, Corbett said, "use engines that are large and slow speed and able to combust a wide array of fuel qualities."
Bunker fuel comes with a cost, however. Not only is it stickier and thus harder to clean up after a spill, but it also burns considerably dirtier than other fuel sources. According to a new study published in this month's issue of the journal of the American Chemical Society, air pollution from cargo ship exhaust was linked to the premature death of 60,000 people worldwide in 2002. The vast majority of those deaths came from heart and lung ailments. A spokesman for a major association of oil refiners reacted skeptically to the idea of banning bunker fuel. "You and I and other consumers benefit when goods are moved across the seas in the most efficient manner," said Tupper Hull of the Western States Petroleum Association. "It's always best for the consumers and best for the environment when market dynamics drive these decisions," he added. Friends of the Earth is trying to force industry's hand, however. The group is among a coalition of environmental organizations pressuring the International Maritime Organization, the global body that governs international shipping, to force companies to switch from bunker fuel to less polluting "marine distillate fuels." Environmental groups have also sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force it to regulate ship fuels and engines, and are backing an effort by California's Democratic Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, that would require ships to switch to marine distillate fuels while in U.S. waters. Meanwhile, local communities feeling the brunt of bunker fuel's pollution are taking matters into their own hands.
In Long Beach, California, which is home to the West Coast's largest port, 15 percent of children have been diagnosed with asthma -- almost double the national average. To combat this pollution, authorities in southern California have taken a number of steps to require cargo ships running on bunker fuel to burn cleaner while they're docked in port. Ships docked at Long Beach must now plug into shore line electricity while they're docked. To pull into port at Long Beach, ships must also have scrubbers in their smoke stacks. In Seattle, which hosts another busy West Coast port, authorities have begun requiring cruise ships to use cleaner low-sulfur bunker fuel when in port to reduce air pollution. ....................................................................................
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