COUNCIL CHAMBER Regular Meeting February 25, 2014 the Fifty
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COUNCIL CHAMBER Regular Meeting February 25, 2014 The fifty-first meeting of the City Council of Charleston was held this date convening at 5:00 p.m. in City Hall. A notice of this meeting and an agenda were mailed to the news media February 19, 2014 and appeared in The Post and Courier February 23, 2014 and are made available on the City’s website. PRESENT (13) The Honorable Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Mayor Councilmember White District 1 Councilmember Waring District 7 Councilmember Williams District 2 Councilmember Seekings District 8 Councilmember Lewis District 3 Councilmember Alexander District 9 Councilmember Mitchell District 4 Councilmember Riegel- arrived at 5:08 p.m. District 10 Councilmember Wagner District 5 Councilmember Moody District 11 Councilmember Gregorie District 6 Councilmember Wilson District 12 Mayor Riley called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. The Clerk called the roll. Mayor Riley said, “I will now call on Councilmember Marvin Wagner to open our meeting with an invocation and then lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.” The meeting was opened with an invocation provided by Councilmember Wagner. Councilmember Wagner then led City Council in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Mayor Riley said, “It’s a pleasure to welcome all of you to this City Council meeting in your historic City Hall. This is the second oldest City Hall in America that is still used for this purpose. New York is the only older one, and we’re proud of it. I know on behalf of City Council, we are pleased to welcome all of you here. We are also very pleased to begin our meeting with a briefing from Jim Newsome. Jim, as all you may know, is the Executive Director of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, and under his leadership, the Ports Authority has grown in volume and has grown fiscally. The Charleston Harbor Deepening Study has begun and has the commitment of the State and Federal government to move forward with that important infrastructure. The North Charleston Container Terminal construction has gotten underway, and many other progressive measures that were done to the benefit of our community, economically, as well as to the State of South Carolina. Jim, it’s a pleasure to have you with us tonight.” Mr. Newsome said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley. Good evening to the members of City Council. Thanks for allowing me a brief moment to make a presentation on the good work that the Global Ocean Shipping Industry and the Port have done in terms of air emission reductions. City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 2 If you look at the Port, we have done two air emission inventories, one in 2005, one in 2011, and we’re committed to do another air emission inventory in 2017. This covers a comprehensive range of our activities as a port. We’ve invested about $16 million in the last decade in repowers, electrification, truck replacement and new fuel standards for trains and trucks, and that doesn’t count the investment in the new inland port in Greer, South Carolina whereby we have converted a substantial quantity of truck traffic in this State to rail. We’re doing air monitoring at Wando and will at the Navy Base terminal. We also will commit to you tonight to do comprehensive air monitoring on the Union Pier footprint, as well. The good news is that the Global Shipping Industry, through the implementation of national and international standards, has consistently achieved air emission reductions. Truck emissions have reduced by 60 percent, and ship emissions will have reduced by 50 percent by 2015. So, this is a substantial effort that’s been made. Shipping is a global industry that responds to global regulation. It’s not practical to have different regulations in every port and locality. The major global response to air emissions is in MARPOL Annex VI. That’s done by the International Maritime Organization. It was adopted by the U.S. in 2010 at the recommendation of the container shipping lines, and at the recommendation of several environmental organizations. It provides for a North American Emission Control Area (ECA). What is an Emission Control Area? It’s basically the use of lower sulfur fuel that had been used before. So, the original standard of sulfur fuel was about 3.7 percent. The 2012 ECA reduced the sulfur content to one percent, and by 2015 in August, it will be reduced to 0.1 percent. Then, consequent to that, the ship’s engines will be on new construction in 2011 and will reduce NOx emission by 15 to 20 percent, and as a new ship construction in 2016, it will be an 80 percent reduction. So, both result in a huge drop in criteria pollutants across the board. I have a quote here from a very active organization in collaboration with shipping called the Environmental Defense Fund. They actually wrote the EPA right before the adoption, and said they should adopt these eco-standards. They said the eco-standards provide ‘the strongest clean air standards available under international law,’ and they went on to cite how they would slash pollution and, ultimately, save lives. This is a chart (referring to the electronic presentation) that we have created, which shows the criteria of pollutants in our port for cargo and cruise ships. A total of slightly under 2,000 ships are in our harbor. The blue is bunker fuel under the old standard. Ultimately, the green is under the lowest standard of 0.1 percent sulfur fuel. What you see is what was intended, basically, an almost total elimination of sulfur dioxide, a significant reduction of particulate matter pollution achieved in this harbor, and really globally, as an example. This is a chart; it’s actually not our chart. It was a chart used in the submission by the plaintiffs in the Administrative Law Court case concerning the new Cruise Terminal. What it actually shows you is that, on the measures of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, on sulfur dioxide, actually, the 0.1 percent eco-standard that the Carnival Fantasy has now adopted from December of 2013. They adopted that ahead of the required time and in an arrangement they made with the Environmental Protection Agency. This 0.1 percent standard is more effective in reducing sulfur dioxide than even shore power, basically. It shows a related reduction in particulate matter, not so much activity in the NOx and the carbon monoxide, again, the NOx is to be addressed subsequently through new engine standards. So, this is a powerful chart. If you look at Union Pier, and if you look at the anchor point of 2010, which is when we had both cargo and cruise operations on Union Pier, you will recall that we had the BMW loading operation there, and we started the home port of the Carnival Fantasy. When you compare that time in 2010 to today with the 0.1 percent fuel in the Carnival Fantasy, we have more than a 50 percent reduction in criteria pollutants on Union Pier. Again, as shown in the earlier chart, I think both the cruise City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 3 opponents and us agree that the 0.1 percent fuel standard now in place on the Carnival Fantasy is superior to shore power in terms of sulfur dioxide reduction.” Councilmember Riegel arrived in the Chamber at 5:08 p.m. Mr. Newsome continued, “This is a picture of what I just showed you. Again, the 2010 activities, about 240 tons of criteria pollutants, and then the 2015 activities, which are really today, actually, because Carnival did implement this standard as from December of 2013, so it’s reduction to about 120 tons of criteria pollutants. If you look at the context of the total Charleston County emissions footprint, the passenger vessel Carnival Fantasy is a really very small part of the emissions footprint of this community. It’s less than 0.1 percent of the total criteria pollutant emissions. The sulfur emission control area does not deal significantly with NOx. NOx, I might add, are effectively disbursed by the prevailing offshore winds. As you know, NOx turns into ozone after some period of time. The whole State is in compliance with ozone attainment, with the exception of York County I think you’ll find. Again, the 2011 and 2016 MARPOL engine standards will begin addressing NOx reduction on new buildings and new ships that are being built. I might add that Charleston County is overall in attainment on all national ambient air quality standards, even before the above steps. I would submit to you again that the shipping industry, although not a huge part of the Charleston County emission footprint, I think the overall shipping import industry is less than 5 percent, but has made a significant contribution to air emission reduction. All data actually shows, if you look at the measurements by DHEC as agreed with the EPA, that air quality over the last few years has actually improved in Charleston County. It’s not declined. Again, anything that we are going to commit today to do, monitoring efforts on the Union Pier footprint, and between ourselves and DHEC and the EPA, the monitoring efforts we do will fill any perceived gaps in the data. So, this will be a data driven analysis. We won’t have to speculate as to what the circumstances are. I might add, just as an aside for the members of Council, that we’ve had an air monitor on the Wando Terminal for some time.