CleanAirMiami.org

It's time for the city to take action and make shore power a reality at the Port of Miami. We must demand that our local officials prioritize the health and well-being of our community over the interests of the shipping industry.

With shore power in place, we can drastically reduce the amount of air pollution generated by ships at the port and create a healthier, more sustainable future for all residents. We can't afford to wait any longer. Join us in calling on the city to bring shore power to the Port of Miami and put an end to the harmful pollution. Together, we can make a difference and create a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for our community.

The pollution reduction technology that allows cruise ships to turn off their engines while in port is coming to PortMiami’s Carnival Cruise Line terminal.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Friday that the county plans to fund a shore power hookup at Carnival’s new PortMiami cruise terminal that will be up and running by October 2023. Shore power allows ships to plug into the local electrical grid while in port instead of idling their engines, drastically cutting climate change-inducing, dangerous air emissions.

The announcement follows the Feb. 3 publication of a Miami Herald story about the avoidable pollution from docked cruise ships and the formation on Feb. 17 of a county task force with representatives from six cruise companies and Florida Power & Light.

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County submitted a $2 million grant application for the shore power hookup to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act Program. The county will contribute the remaining $8.7 million to fund the hookup, for a total price of $10,750,000.01, the application said.

Polluting cruise ships may finally be able to plug in at PortMiami, slashing emissions that harm humans and contribute to climate change.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava signed a letter of intent Wednesday with the CEOs of six cruise companies and the CEO of Florida Power & Light to bring the pollution control technology called shore power to PortMiami. The mayor announced the joint letter two weeks after the publication of a Miami Herald story about the avoidable pollution from docked cruise ships.

Representatives from the county, FPL and the companies — Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages — will form a task force to work through the logistical and funding challenges of installing shore power, which allows ships to turn off their engines while docked and plug into the local electrical grid. Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine will work as a volunteer with the group; he is now CEO of Royal Media Partners.

Miami-Dade leaders on Tuesday advanced another PortMiami terminal project — but without modern pollution controls already adopted by cruise ships docking there. Under the plan, the county will spend $177,200,000 to build the new MSC Cruises terminal but won’t let vessels connect to shore power.

Commissioners broke into applause after the unanimous vote in the PortMiami and Environmental Resilience Committee, which approved the construction deal. The arrangement involves a mix of county and MSC dollars for a 62-year lease on a $577,200,000 terminal that can accommodate up to three cruise ships at the same time.

While MSC has joined much of the cruise industry by equipping its ships with shore power capability, vessels would continue belching toxic gas from their smokestacks since the county declined to require hook ups in any of its new terminals.

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest luxury cruise operator, emitted nearly 10 times more sulphur oxide (SOX) around European coasts than did all 260 million European cars in 2017, a new analysis by sustainable transport group Transport & Environment reveals.[1] Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world’s second largest, is second, yet four times worse than the European car fleet. SOX emissions form sulphate (SO4) aerosols that increase human health risks and contribute to acidification in terrestrial and aquatic environments.

Particulate matter cited in cardiac, lung issuesPALM SPRINGS, Calif. – New research from Harvard University and several colleges in the United Kingdom found that pollution from burning fossil fuels could be blamed for 8.7 million premature deaths in 2018, about onefifth of all deaths that year.

China and India – the most populous countries in the world as well as two of the top coal-burners – accounted for roughly half of all excess deaths identified in the study. The eastern U.S. and several other regions around the world, including Europe and Southeast Asia, also had high levels. The majority of U.S. coal-fired power plants that are operational and not slated for retirement are in the eastern half of the nation.

The report focused on PM2.5, fine particulate matter that can get deep into the lungs and cause cardiac and pulmonary issues. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PM2.5 exposure has been linked to asthma, an irregular heartbeat, heart attacks and death.

The study also did not quantify how many years fossil fuel pollution would take off an average person’s life, although other recent research estimated that all types of PM2.5 pollution caused the loss of 103.1million lifeyears globally in 2015.

While it has historically been difficult to differentiate between various sources of PM2.5 in similar studies, this team relied on a “global 3-D model of atmospheric chemistry” to isolate emissions originating locally from burning fossil fuels.

“Our study adds to the mounting evidence that air pollution from ongoing dependence on fossil fuels is detrimental to global health,” said Eloise Marais, an associate professor in the department of geography at University College London and one of the report’s co-authors. “We can’t in good conscience continue to rely on fossil fuels, when we know that there are such severe effects on health and viable, cleaner alternatives.”

The research team shared data that broke out the mortality figures at a state-by-state level across the U.S. Topping the list of the states hit hardest per capita were those in the Rust Belt, where coal has historically been king.

Pennsylvania experienced the worst outcomes, with 195 excess deaths per 100,000 people. Next were Ohio with 188, Michigan with 177, Indiana with 176, Kentucky with 169 and West Virginia with 158.

Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, said that a transition away from fossil fuels shouldn’t be rushed: “There is a path to an energy future that is equitable, reliable, affordable and safe – but not without oil and gas.”

The research team used the study as a call to action to move on from burning hydrocarbons.

“Fossil fuel combustion can be more readily controlled than other sources and precursors of PM2.5 such as dust or wildfire smoke, so this is a clear message to policymakers and stakeholders to further incentivize a shift to clean sources of energy,” the team wrote.