State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, joining with national environmental groups, will petition the Bush administration today to crack down on global warming emissions from ocean-going vessels, which make more than 11,000 calls at California ports each year.
The petition opens a new front in the battle by California and other states to force the federal government to regulate greenhouse gases. Until now, the focus had been on emissions from cars, trucks, power plants and other U.S.-based industries. Regulating planet-warming pollutants from ships presents a tougher challenge because more than 90% of vessels that bring goods to the U.S. fly foreign flags and traditionally fall under international jurisdiction.
"Climate change represents a potent catastrophe and an irreversible risk to California as well as to the rest of the world," Brown said in an interview. "Who comes into American ports is a matter for Americans to decide."
Ocean-going vessels account for an estimated 2.7% to 5% of the world's greenhouse gases, roughly equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of all U.S. cars and trucks. And emissions from ships are likely to grow by 75% in the next two decades, according to studies by the German-based Institute of Atmospheric Physics and the oil giant BP, which owns tankers.
The United Nations' International Maritime Organization, which is charged with regulating ocean-going vessels, has discussed global warming emissions for several years but has yet to adopt rules. It has also postponed proposals to effectively control conventional pollutants, including particulates and ozone-forming gases that cause respiratory diseases and cancer.
The U.N. agency is hampered by opposition from Panama, Liberia and other nations that profit from registering ships, which environmentalists say makes U.S. intervention all the more urgent.
Overall, the Bush administration opposes mandatory curbs on global warming emissions and has declined to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement on climate change. That resistance suffered a setback earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
