California has ruled that all ocean-going vessels within 24 nautical miles of California’s coastline must now use cleaner burning diesel fuel; which by 2012 will have have reduced sulphur emissions by 95%.
The EPA has also announced a proposed rule that would forbid the production and sale of marine fuel oil above 1,000 ppm sulfur for use in the waters near the US coastline.
Currently sulphur content is between 27,000 ppm and can be as high as 45,000 ppm.
Pollution from marine shipping causes approximately 60,000 premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths worldwide each year, and is estimated to increase to 87,000 premature deaths annually in 2012 with no change in sulphur content, according to a new study by researchers from the US and Germany, led by Dr. James Winebrake at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the current issue of the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
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