NEWS - Local Breaking News

SBJ.com Staff Report

Mar 24, 2010 - The South Carolina State Ports Authority (SCSPA) and the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today extended a voluntary agreement that has successfully reduced port-related air emissions.

Through a unique partnership – the only one of its kind in South Carolina – the two agencies have worked together over the past three years to implement programs that cut emissions associated with the port’s existing and future facilities and improve air quality in the Charleston region, earning the port national acclaim, according to Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCSPA.

In a visit to the port this month, EPA assistant administrator Gina McCarthy applauded the SCSPA’s proactive approach to cutting emissions both on its facilities and beyond the port’s footprint.

Since the partnership started in March 2007, the SCSPA and DHEC have brought on various emissions reductions that impact both current and future facilities. A number of ppecific actions have either been accomplished or are underway.

The port has completed a baseline Port Air Emissions Inventory, the first in the Southeast which is credited with reducing emissions from 57 cargo-handling machines, 110 trucks, four tugs and a dredge. This was accomplished by installing cleaner engines, cleaner fuels, filters and idle-reduction and fuel saving technologies.

The SCSPA has also switched all of it on-terminal diesel equipment, including port-owned and tenant-owned, to ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, including implementing contractor guidelines in construction bid documents to minimize air impacts.

“Perhaps the greatest work is associated with the more than $5 million in federal grants and local matching funds that are reducing more than 2,500 tons of pollutants from both port-owned and privately-owned diesel equipment,” according to Newsome. The public-private partners in the projects include the SCSPA, DHEC, and 23 private companies and associations, he states.

“The Port of Charleston has become recognized as a leader in environmental stewardship throughout the Southeast,” said Newsome. “Continuing our partnership with DHEC strengthens the port community’s pledge to cleaner air while we grow business through the port.”

“This has been a precedent-setting partnership,” said DHEC commissioner C. Earl Hunter. “The Ports Authority and the transportation industry have taken a proactive approach to reducing emissions and improving air quality.  DHEC looks forward to continuing this work.”