Funds Come From China Shipping Settlement
Twenty-five years after litigation began, mitigation funds from the last China Shipping settlement are funding a groundbreaking study of pollutants from oceangoing vessels. This in turn could lead to stricter regulations, cleaner air, and healthier communities, not just in the LA Harbor Area, but in ports around the world. In addition to better, real-time data on regulated pollutants, it will produce data on dozens of harmful pollutants that haven’t been measured before.
Researchers from the University of California Riverside CE-CERT program gave a public preview of the project at the Boys & Girls Club on Earth Day afternoon.
“We’re trying to take a holistic approach with this study,” lead researcher David Crocker said. “That’s kind of what’s unique.” It’s holistic in two ways: by monitoring both regulated and unregulated pollutants, and by monitoring from multiple perspectives.
The project will combine newly-developed drone-based collection with community-based monitoring and ship-based monitoring as well. Drones will fly into ship exhaust plumes and grab air samples to analyze on land, providing vastly more data on hazardous pollutants. Computer modeling will connect drone data at the pollution source with ground-based data at three community-based sites. “These four things are going to come together to give us the best look that we can,” Crocker explained.
Since 2006, they’ve measured emissions on “maybe 30 or 20 on big ocean-going vessels,” veteran researcher Kent Johnson said. “We’re hoping to do over 100 with the drones. I’d love to see if we can get 300, but I can’t promise that, but we’re gonna be there for a year. We set up this really neat idea where we could be in and out in 15 minutes,” he explained. Multiple vessels could be monitored per day.
Community-based monitoring at three sites — in San Pedro, Wilmington and Long Beach — begins in May, drone monitoring will begin in the summer. Ship-based monitoring is logistically more onerous and complex. Over time, three ships will be tracked from the Bay Area to the Harbor Area, to Hawaii, creating a record of the full range of their operations, which can then be compared with drone readings. Both engines and pollution control technologies function differently at different points in their journey, and at different speeds, which is not accounted for in current regulations. Johnson’s earlier research identified similar problems with truck pollution regulations, leading to improved regulations.
“For vessels exiting the port, the drone will capture data on main engine operation during low-duty cycles, such as engine warm-up phases, which are known to exhibit significantly higher emissions (up to three times higher PM mass emissions),” the project proposal explained. “Comparatively lower emissions are expected for measurements of vessels entering the port when their engines are already hot. Comparing emissions from hot and cold main engines provides critical insights that could inform future regulations for OGVs.”
“The $3 Million funds to support this Carbon Hawk project were generated from violations of the Port of LA to our legal settlement agreement,” said Janet Gunter, one of three original litigants in the suit, which, she noted “brought national attention to shipping ports as major sources of air pollution.” Now, she says, “This project as well has every potential to draw widespread attention for its ability to identify verifiable levels of both known and unknown air contaminants stemming from the port’s industrial operations. It is imperative that the public know the toxins that they are being exposed to.”
“Most people are trying to look for NOx and SO2,” Johnson said. “They’re looking at compliance with existing regulations. But we’re trying to look at exposure to a community,” a broader concern that could bring new protective regulations into play.”
“The organic fraction (OC) of the particulate matter contains thousands of organic compounds,” the proposal notes. “Additionally, the OC contains a number of hazardous air pollutants that will be considered when assessing risk from the collected PM [particulate matter].”
A later litigant, the Coalition for Clean Air, was represented by president and CEO Joe Lyou, who also previously served on the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
“I encouraged the researchers to meet with the consultant responsible for developing the San Pedro Bay ports emissions inventory, and with the regulatory agencies – South Coast AQMD and the California Air Resources Board – to make sure that the research results will be used to improve the accuracy of the ship emissions data going into the key regulatory planning documents,” Lyou told Random Lengths afterwards. “These plans determine how and whether regulatory agencies develop new rules to reduce air pollution. New and cutting-edge research about ship emissions from the CE-CERT team could do a lot to help protect those who live, work, learn, and play in port-impacted communities.”
Lyou also emphasized a crucial historical parallel.
“I also said that the researchers – Kent Johnson in particular – should be taking credit for and explaining how similar work on diesel trucks helped reduce pollution in port communities,” Lyou said. “When new, cleaner diesel trucks started to be deployed, Kent studied in-use emissions and found that the new control equipment didn’t work, or worked less effectively, at slow speeds and low-power operations. He measured trucks going in and out of port terminals and along our congested freeways. CARB used his findings to correct the model,” Lyou explained. “We hope that the truck precedent will play out with ships.”
Community outreach will also be important. “The next major community update we figure will be in fall of 2026,” Crocker said. “Instead of us telling you what we’re doing, we’re going to be telling you what we’re learning.”
“It is my belief that this project, with its innovative airborne drone approach, will be able to bring us into a new era of air quality monitoring,” Gunter said enthusiastically. “Monitoring that will prove the current methods being employed obsolete!”