But the sulfur regulations still leave an unpleasant residue
California is posturing over the use of low sulfur in main and auxiliary engines. Industry technocrats say that the Air Resources Board has bowed to pressure from the Navy to "get commercial ships the heck out of the Point Mugu missile range" and so has extended the boundary of the enforced use of low sulfur to 24 nautical miles BEYOND the Channel Islands (Santa Catalina and the rest of the eight islands). The aim is to get ships back into the Santa Barbara Channel.
This gives the state jurisdiction for about 35 NM off the coast, a world first for a non-government authority.
The 0.1 percent sulfur rule has been postponed from January 2012 to January 2014, with the fuel specification applying to a viscosity of 3 centistokes (cSt) instead of the current 2 cSt.
While the state has relented somewhat on the date of fuel compliance, this is still one year before the US/Canada Emission Control Area, although the sulfur limit is the same as that of the joint country limit.
The board's summary of the situation goes: "Under the North American ECA, OGVs traveling within a 200 nm zone of the North American coastline are required to use fuels with no more than 1.0 percent sulfur beginning on August 1, 2012 and no more than 0.1 percent sulfur beginning on January 1, 2015. The North American ECA does not specify what type of fuel must be used; it only establishes a fuel sulfur limit.
"To align California’s Phase 1 fuel requirements with the North American ECA’s August 2012 fuel sulfur requirement, staff suggested that a 1.0 percent fuel sulfur limit for the Phase 1 marine gas oil be included in the regulations and that this limit begin August 1, 2012 to coincide with the North American ECA implementation date."
Comments and objections have to be sent to the board by August 9, not that officials will take the slightest bit of notice. The board refuses to listen to maritime experts and industry representatives, who have far more knowledge.