Press Release: New Report Documents Air Pollution Burden of Big Ships in Coastal Communities
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| Press Release: New Report Documents Air Pollution Burden of Big Ships in Coastal Communities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Janea Scott, (917) 674-0513, jscott@edf.org
Jennifer Andreassen, (202) 572-3387, jandreassen@edf.org
(Washington, DC – October 3, 2008) A new report released today shows that large ocean-going ships – such as cruise ships and container ships – in U.S. waters, are big pollution emitters. These large ships release dangerous diesel pollution that threatens the health of U.S. port communities, are a major source of urban smog pollution, and are one of the world’s largest emitters of global warming gases.
The report by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), “Floating Smokestacks: A Call for Action to Clean Up Shipping Pollution,” also examines pollution in the ports of the Lower Mississippi, Seattle/Tacoma, Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York/New Jersey, Houston/Galveston, and the Great Lakes.
The report recommends protective policy action at next week’s pivotal meeting of the International Maritime Organization. This international body will meet to consider standards to significantly reduce pollution from these large ocean-going ships by requiring cleaner engines, pollution control technologies and cleaner fuel.
Ocean-going ships are powered by large diesel engines that run on an extremely dirty grade of fuel, called bunker fuel or residual fuel. It contains approximately 1,800 times the sulfur content of the U.S. diesel fuel standards for other major diesel engines.
“Large ocean-going ships are vital for international commerce, but they also are ‘floating smokestacks’ that are big emitters of harmful air pollution,” said Janea Scott, EDF senior attorney. “Next week’s international meeting is critical in cleaning up the pollution from these big ships and navigating the way to healthier air for the millions of people who live in coastal communities.”
The report analyzed the latest available data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2001) and found that large ocean-going ships in the United States emitted:
§ Approximately 54,000 tons of particulate matter (PM 2.5), equivalent to the emissions from about 117 coal-fired power plants; PM 2.5 is a deadly form of air pollution associated with lung disease and other respiratory diseases.
§ Approximately 745,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx), equivalent to the NOx emissions from 94 coal-fired power plants.
§ Nearly 40% of all sulfur dioxide emitted by the transportation sector; sulfur dioxide can transform into harmful fine particles and can also fall back to the earth as acid rain.
§ Ocean-going ships are responsible for about 3% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that cause climate change.
Currently, ocean-going vessels are subject only to weak international emissions standards. The clean air standards that apply to these high-polluting engines have lagged behind other major source categories in the transportation sector. Without strong regulations, pollution from these high-emitting engines will increase.
EDF’s new report also recommends: 1) Establishing protective limits on pollution around America’s coasts through cleaner fuel standards; 2) Addressing global warming pollution from ships; and 3) Taking actions to reduce or eliminate emissions from ships that are near or in ports by cutting idling emissions when these big ships are at dock.
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| Press Release: Leading Global Environmental Group Launches New Non-Profit Technology with The Network Companies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Network Contact: Mike Jaconi (202) 552-5835
Environmental Defense Fund Contact: Sean Crowley (202) 572-3331
The Network Companies LLC is announcing the launch of the new Environmental Defense Fund Fundraising Toolbar and Facebook Application. These applications, developed by The Network Companies and FreeCause, Inc., will serve as fundraising and engagement tools for Environmental Defense Fund, which was ranked first among environmental groups — and second overall — in the 2007 Financial Times global study of 850 business-nonprofit partnerships. The toolbar, which launched today, may be downloaded from Environmental Defense Fund’s website at: http://www.edf.org/toolbar and the Facebook Application may be visited by going to: http://apps.facebook.com/environmentaldefense.
“We are excited about partnering with an organization like Environmental Defense Fund,” said John Weaver, Senior Partner at The Network. “Now its members will have an opportunity to support the organization in a revolutionary new way. The technology we have introduced will convert supporters’ day-to-day activities into a new revenue stream for Environmental Defense Fund and a platform that will raise awareness about climate change.”
"We’re thrilled to offer our donors and members an easy, unobtrusive way to demonstrate their support for Environmental Defense Fund," said David Acup, Senior Director of Interactive Marketing & Membership for Environmental Defense Fund. "This toolbar is a great tool for our supporters to keep track of Environmental Defense Fund’s campaign to stop global warming and to discover how they can reduce their own carbon footprint."
The toolbar raises money every time an Environmental Defense Fund supporter searches the Internet through the Yahoo! powered search feed. Additionally, whenever supporters make a purchase at one of hundreds of participating e-commerce websites, such as Amazon and eBay, a percentage of the sale amount is contributed to the organization.
The toolbar is also a powerful communications tool, providing an always-on connection between the organization and each of its members. The toolbar’s communication features include auto-updatable RSS and news feeds, links to pages on Environmental Defense Fund’s website, all the components offered by the Google and Yahoo! toolbars such as the weather and email checker, and the most powerful feature: the messaging component. The messaging component will give the Environmental Defense Fund the ability to segment messaging based on demographic data, providing a powerful tool for micro-targeting and broadcasting key messages and user-specific calls to action.
Social network applications, like the Environmental Defense Fund’s Fight Global Warming Application, are fast becoming the most efficient way for organizations to identify new constituents and grow their membership bases online. Other current clients include Oxfam America, the Dallas Cowboys, health-related affinity organizations, and numerous political groups.
“The toolbar and social network applications represent a new frontier in cause-based marketing,” Weaver said, “The Network and FreeCause are experts at utilizing these tools to deliver success for our clients.”
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The Network Companies LLC, a multi-service firm offering public affairs and crisis management, political consulting, and affinity, online, and direct marketing is based in Washington, DC. The Network has the exclusive rights to all domestic and international political clients of the FreeCause toolbar software. FreeCause, Inc. is a software and technology development firm based in Boston, MA.
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.
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| Press Release: Hundreds of U.S. Chemicals and Companies Will Be Impacted By European Union REACH Regulation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Andreassen, Environmental Defense Fund, 202-572-3387, jandreassen@edf.org
(Washington, DC – September 30, 2008) Hundreds of companies located in 37 of the 50 United States produce or import hundreds of chemicals designated as dangerous by the European Union (EU). As a result, these companies will be directly affected by controls imposed under the EU’s new chemicals regulation, concludes Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in a report released today, Across the Pond: Assessing REACH’s First Big Impact on U.S. Companies and Chemicals.
The report finds that many of the hundreds of chemicals already identified as dangerous by the EU are being produced or imported in the United States in large amounts and at many different sites. The findings provide compelling evidence for the U.S. Congress to protect public health by reforming the nation’s primary chemical safety law, the 32-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act.
"The fact that so many chemicals already designated as dangerous by EU officials are actively being produced and used in the United States should dispel any notion that the problem is limited to only a few ‘bad actors,’" said Richard A. Denison, Ph.D., EDF Senior Scientist and author of the report. "Toxic chemicals grabbing recent headlines – such as bisphenol A used in baby bottles and food cans, phthalates used in kids’ toys, and flame retardants used in furniture – are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of chemicals that demand scrutiny."
"This report serves as an early warning to companies making and using these dangerous chemicals that they will be at a competitive disadvantage unless they proactively seek to eliminate exposures and develop safer alternatives," Denison cautioned. "Scrutiny of these chemicals is only going to grow, so chemical companies should support efforts to modernize the decades-old U.S. chemicals policy that has shielded chemicals from needed testing and appropriate control."
Last year, the EU adopted its sweeping new chemicals regulation – Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) – under which companies must register all chemicals they place on the EU market in amounts above one metric ton. A hallmark of REACH is its identification of so-called "substances of very high concern" (SVHCs). REACH’s intent is ultimately to allow use of such SVHCs only when each use has been specifically authorized.
"REACH’s requirements will fully apply to U.S. companies that make chemicals for the EU market," Denison concluded. "This report is the first to determine which companies report making SVHCs in the United States. Once these chemicals become subject to REACH’s authorization requirements, these companies will need permission from EU officials to sell them in the EU."
EDF based its analysis on a list of nearly 300 SVHCs issued last week by the International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec), a Swedish nongovernmental organization. ChemSec dubbed its list the "SIN List," for "Substitute It Now," which reflects the group’s interest in promoting safer alternatives to SVHCs wherever possible. The list represents the first effort to identify the range of chemicals expected to be subject to authorization under REACH.
EDF compared the SIN List to the most recent publicly available data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that identifies which companies reported making or importing these chemicals in the United States. EDF found that many, and likely most, of the SIN List chemicals are manufactured or imported in the United States.
Other findings of EDF’s report include:
EDF also found that only about a third of the SVHCs on the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory have been tested under TSCA. Only two – asbestos and hexavalent chromium – have been regulated under TSCA, and even these only under narrow conditions.
EDF used the most recent publicly available data, which were collected by EPA in 2002 for calendar year 2001. Given the dynamic nature of the chemical market, some of the data in this report may have changed. In addition, because EPA allows companies to claim the identities of chemicals they produce, as well as their own identities, to be confidential business information, this report only includes chemicals and companies that are not claimed to be confidential business information.
EDF’s report is available at www.edf.org/AcrossThePond. The ChemSec SIN List is available at www.chemsec.org/list.
EDF analysis is consistent with a report just issued by Innovest that used the SIN List to assess, on a global basis, the financial risks and opportunities facing companies producing such chemicals.
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