AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Air Quality in Canadian Port Cities: Regulation of Large Vessels to Low-Sulfur Marine Fuel in the North American Emissions Control Area (NA ECA)
Angelos Anastasopolos, Uwayemi Sofowote, PHILIP K. HOPKE, Mathieu Rouleau, Tim Shin, Ryan Kulka, Paul-Michael Farrah, Mark Gibson, Health Canada
Abstract Number: 89 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract Marine transportation can contribute significantly to air pollution levels in areas near commercial ports and seaways. This is a concern for many highly populated Canadian communities, such as Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, and other coastal/seaway locations. Historically, large marine vessels have used bunker fuel oil, a low-grade diesel-type fuel with high sulfur (S) content associated with substantial releases of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and components of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) such as sulfate (SO42-) and heavy metals, as well as other combustion-related pollutants (NOx, CO, VOCs), greenhouse gases (CO2), and the formation of ground-level ozone (O3). With growing awareness of the environmental and health impacts of marine shipping air pollution, Canada and the United States jointly designated a North American Emissions Control Area (NA ECA) and over the period 2012 to 2015 phased in lower-sulfur marine fuel regulations for large ships operating in coastal waters and ports. Health Canada has assessed ambient air quality at Canadian port cities on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and along the St. Lawrence Seaway before, during, and after implementation of the NA ECA marine fuel regulations and also carried out comprehensive and targeted near-harbor and community air sampling campaigns before/after the regulations at the port city of Halifax. Findings are generally a ‘good news story’ and source-based analysis will be presented demonstrating the substantial and beneficial effect of the regulations on improving air quality with respect to SO2 and, more moderately, PM2.5. As such, Health Canada’s research provides air health data that is highly meaningful to populations living near large ports and also addresses the broader issue of ‘regulation accountability,’ relevant to pending further regulation of marine fuel quality, such as the 2020 fuel sulfur cap for international waters.