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Puget Sound Business Journal
November 17, 2006      
Op-Ed: Consumers are the next front for cleaning the air
By Dennis McLerran, Executive Director, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and Marina Cofer-Wildsmith, CEO, American Lung Association of Washington. New federal air quality standards for fine particles announced recently by the Environmental Protection Agency could cause several areas in our region to violate those standards and move into non-attainment status for the first time since1993.  Urban areas of our region have air toxics levels that are in the top five percent nationally. And we are concerned about global climate change. 

KPLU
November 16, 2006
Expanding the Hybrid Work Truck Fleet
Hybrid passenger cars such as the Toyota Prius have become common. Now, the feds are giving local governments money to put that green technology into heavy work trucks. KPLU environment reporter Liam Moriarty has more. Interview withPeter Murchie.

King County
Text and Video of "King County among first in nation to order hybrid trucks"

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Grant Given to Buy Hybrid Utility Trucks
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson delivered a $250,000 grant Wednesday to a consortium of Western Washington governments to buy "ultraclean" hybrid diesel-electric utility trucks. Led by King County, the group of 12 cities and counties and the state Department of Natural Resources will kick in $1.5 million to buy the trucks, which are the kind that have been busy recently fixing power outages caused by storms.

Daily Journal of Commerce
November 15, 2006
EPA helps utilities buy hybrid trucks
SEATTLE — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is giving a group of local governments $250,000 to help defray the cost of 10 state-of-the-art hybrid electric utility trucks. The trucks cost $1.7 million. International Harvester built the chassis and engines of the trucks; Eaton Corp. built the hybrid components. The governments getting the EPA grant — which include the cities of Seattle, Tacoma, Kent, Richland, Bremerton and Everett — will pay for most of the cost of the trucks. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson will appear at a ceremony today in Georgetown to award the clean diesel grant. The event will take place at 1 p.m. at the King County Fleet Maintenance Facility, 707 S. Orcas St.

Auto Spectator
November 15, 2006
Grant Helps King County and NW Partners Purchase Newest, Cleanest Hybrid Diesel-Electric Utility Trucks
Today EPA’s Administrator Stephen L. Johnson awarded $250,000 to King County and a consortium of 13 other Washington cities and counties to help launch an innovative program to purchase ultra-clean hybrid diesel-electric utility trucks and greatly reduce harmful diesel emissions in the Northwest.

Seattle Post Intelligencer
March 14, 2006
EPA Helps Gig harbor Buy School Buses
A $300,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency will help pay for eight new school buses next year for the Peninsula School District at Gig Harbor.

Renewable Energy Access
Friday, November 4, 2005
Biodiesel for Both Sides of the Border
Thanks to a $69,777 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, the Washington Technology Center's Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative will launch a project to convert waste vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel for utility line trucks that operate along both sides of the U.S./Canadian Border.

Bellingham Herald
Monday, October 31, 2005
Biodiesel Plan Spans Border
A $70,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is paying for the Bio-49 project until September 2006. The trucks should be using the fuel as soon as January.

Washington State: Innovation is in Our Nature
Friday, September 30, 2005
New Cross-Border Bio-Diesel Project Converts
Bio49 is a response to the EPA’s “West Coast Collaborative,” an initiative working to reduce diesel air pollution. The project derives its name from the 49th parallel latitude that crosses the U.S-Canada border near Washington state and British Columbia. The EPA grant, along with matching funds totaling $280,000, will be used to launch and fund the Bio49 project for one year.

Port of Seattle
July 23, 2005
Cruise Ships Plug In to Shore Power at Port of Seattle
New equipment that allows two of the nine cruise ships calling at the Port of Seattle this season to plug into shore power means the vessels can turn their engines off while docked, reducing cruise ship air emissions by about 30 percent.

"Seattle is one of just two ports in North America with shore power capability for cruise ships," said Port of Seattle Commission President Bob Edwards. "The reduction in emissions is equal to taking 1,100 cars of the road for a full year."

Offering shore power is possible in Seattle because Princess Cruises invested $1.8 million to build the Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess with that capability and because Seattle City Light was willing to work with Princess and the Port to bring power to the terminal. City Light's capital costs were offset in part by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  

Seattle Times
Saturday, July 23, 2005
2 cruise ships will plug into Seattle's power grid
Beginning today, two Princess Cruises ships will reduce their air-pollution emissions by about 30 percent by shutting down their diesel engines while docked in Seattle. Instead of idling or using generator power, the Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess will plug into the city's power grid and run off electricity.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board
Monday, October 4, 2004
A Diesel Reprieve
Diesel emissions constitute some of the biggest air pollution threats to health. The problem is finally receiving much-needed attention around Puget Sound and along the West Coast. Last week, officials announced that a cruise ship line will turn off diesel engines on two of its ships while in port and plug into dockside electric outlets. That means fewer particulates and cancer-causing toxins in the air. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is giving $50,000 to Seattle City Light for necessary equipment purchases. The EPA, a host of private groups and states, including Washington, are engaged in a West Coast diesel initiative to cut pollution. And the Bush administration has enacted strong new national rules on diesel. The coast initiative is vital. Western port cities face serious challenges in reducing diesel emissions from concentrated ship, railroad and trucking sources. Through wide-ranging cooperation, jobs can expand at the same time that health improves. 

World Wide Shipper
Monday, October 4, 2004
Port of Vancouver, BC—Testing Low Emissions Additive
The Vancouver Port Authority (VPA) and two container terminal operators have completed a study with a private supplier to test a fuel additive designed to reduce harmful air emissions in land-based container handling equipment. Results of the study indicate the additive significantly reduced particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emissions and generated improvements in combustion efficiency. CombustAll, produced by Vancouver-based Catalyst Energy Inc., is a chemical catalyst added to diesel or heavy bunker fuel to increase the combustion efficiency of engines and boilers. CombustAll works to improve combustion efficiency by catalyzing the oxidation of hydrocarbon molecules further to completion. Improved efficiency not only extracts additional energy from each unit of fuel but reduces several airborne pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter. The Port of Vancouver is participating with U.S. West Coast ports and Canadian and U.S. regulatory agencies in the West Coast Diesel Emissions Reduction Collaborative (WCDERC) to seek solutions to reduce air emissions resulting from port operations. The WCDERC is announcing similar projects and initiatives to reduce air emissions in California, Oregon and Washington.

Seattle Post Intelligencer
Friday, October 1, 2004
Cruise Ships to Plug in to Reduce Pollution: Using Dock Power Is Part of Regional Plan
Air pollution caused by cruise ships docking in Seattle is expected to be reduced by one-third by plugging Princess Cruises' ships into dockside electrical outlets instead of powering the ships by running their diesel engines, officials said yesterday. "Reducing diesel emissions will decrease the incidents of asthma and improve overall air quality," said Ron Kreizenbeck, acting regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle.  

KPLU Seattle 88.5
Friday, October 1, 2004
MP3 audio link - NPR Pacific Lutheran University Seattle
The first steps are being taken to clean up one of the region's most overlooked sources of air pollution -- the ships that dock in the Port of Seattle. KPLU environment reporter Steve Krueger has the story.

Friday, October 1, 2004
MP3 audio link - NPR Pacific Lutheran University Seattle
The first steps are being taken to clean up the air over the Port of Seattle. As KPLU environment reporter Steve Krueger explains, the smoke that comes from marine vessels is a key source of the region's air pollution problems.

MarineLog.com
Friday, October 1, 2004
Princess Goes to Shore Power in Seattle
Princess Cruises will turn off the engines of its ships when they dock in Seattle next summer and "plug in" to the city's electric utility, which relies on hydroelectric power. The shore power project, similar to an arrangement Princess started in the city of Juneau in 2001, is designed to help reduce air emissions. Announced yesterday as part of the West Coast Diesel Emissions Reductions Collaborative, the program will enable Princess ships in Seattle to operate with power provided by Seattle City Light. The power will travel to the ship from a specially designed transformer designed to supply electricity to run all onboard services during the day-long calls. "This initiative is being made possible through a unique collaboration of public and private entities, the availability of cost-effective hydroelectric power ashore, and the fact that the technology exists on our Alaska bound ships which piloted this program," said Dean Brown, executive vice president, fleet operations for Princess Cruises and chairman of Princess Tours. "We are very pleased to be able to bring the shore power program to Seattle, and do our part to reduce fuel consumption."

Seattle Times
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Voluntary Plan Aimed at Cutting Emissions
Federal regulators and industry today are expected to announce $6 million worth of cooperative, voluntary measures to reduce cancer-causing diesel emissions from sources as varied as farm equipment and ships. In Seattle, Princess Cruises plans to dramatically curb air pollution from its two biggest passenger ships by plugging them into the electrical grid rather than have them continue to idle while in port. The announcements are part of an initiative sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, air-pollution authorities and the states of California, Washington and Oregon. They're working with industry and hope to secure $100 million over five years for other projects to cut dangerous diesel exhaust.

The Longview WA Daily News
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Environmental officials launched a partnership with industry Wednesday to curb cancer-causing diesel emissions spewing into the West Coast's skies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $6 million worth of voluntary projects in California, Oregon and Washington, with most of the money coming from the federal government. The EPA said it hoped to ultimately secure $100 million over five years for future projects.

Governor Locke Speech Seattle WA
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Thank you Linda [Strout, Deputy CEO for the Port] for that kind introduction. It is great to be here today on the Seattle waterfront. Our waterways represent a great opportunity for both recreation and commerce here in Washington. We have container ships sending overseas Washington products. And we also have cruise ships docking with passengers from all over the world who have a chance to shop at our stores and restaurants and visit our state. But with this great opportunity also comes challenges. Challenges to keep our environment clean and our residents safe from harmful pollution.

Princess Cruises
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Press Release -- Princess Ships to Connect to Shore Power in Seattle for 2005 Summer Season
Line Expands Innovative Program to Reduce Air Emissions. Demonstrating Princess' commitment to operate responsibly in the communities in which it does business, Princess will turn off the engines of its ships when they dock in Seattle next summer and "plug in" to the city's electric utility, which relies on hydroelectric power. This unique shore power project, similar to an arrangement Princess started in the city of Juneau in 2001, is designed to help reduce air emissions. Announced today as part of the West Coast Diesel Emissions Reductions Collaborative, the program will enable Princess ships in Seattle to operate with power provided by Seattle City Light. The power will travel to the ship from a specially designed transformer designed to supply electricity to run all onboard services during the day-long calls.