On September 30, 2024, the Department of Environmental Quality received Robert Hodson’s petition to initiate a new regulatory rulemaking on ocean-class passenger cruise ships. Specifically, this petition requests that the DEQ and the Commonwealth develop new regulations for cruise ships in Virginia waters as follows: (1) Mandate the use of low-sulphur fuel, (2) Ban the use of Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (open-loop scrubbers), (3) Require the use of shore power, (4) Restrict the dumping of graywater, blackwater, and other environmentally detrimental waste products, and (5) Require incident reporting and independent monitoring to ensure compliance.

A copy of the full petition is available from the point of contact for this petition.

A 21-day public comment period is being announced in the Virginia Register of Regulations. Upon completion of the public comment period, the Air Pollution Control Board will consider the petition at a future meeting and decide whether or not to move forward with the rulemaking.

At the November 21, 2024, meeting of the State Air Pollution Control Board, staff presented the Board with information on the petition and a summary of the comments received on the petition during the public comment period.  The State Air Pollution Control Board voted to not initiate a rulemaking in response to the petition.  The rational for denying the petition is as follows: 

With respect to petition items one through three and item five:

1. The Board is limited by statute (§ 10.1-1307 B) to regulating motor vehicles with respect to a Low and Zero Emissions Vehicle (§ 177) program, or an inspection and maintenance (I/M) program governing on-road motor vehicles in the northern Virginia ozone nonattainment area. The Board has no jurisdiction over off-shore mobile sources such as cruise ships.

Even if state law did allow the Board to adopt such regulations, it would be prohibited from doing so by § 209 E 1 of the federal Clean Air Act, which prohibits states from adopting certain standards for controlling emissions from new nonroad vehicles and engines.

2. Cruise ships are subject to international law and treaty, and changes to pollution controls should be pursued through those venues. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) participates on the U.S. delegation to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is part of the United Nations. The Marine Environment Protection Committee is a group of member states within IMO that works on the prevention of marine pollution. The global marine environment standards are contained in the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships treaty, also known as MARPOL. Annex VI to MARPOL defines engine and ship requirements related to air pollution. The Board has no legal ability to override these existing legal requirements.

3. Even if the Board had the authority to regulate cruise ships, it would not be able to complete the work to develop a regulation until well after various international and federal efforts had been conducted; see, for example, https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/epa-collaboration-international-air-pollution-0.

4. Neither the Board nor the Department have the ability to ensure compliance with any such program.

5. Low-sulfur fuel is already required through the MARPOL treaty. Annex VI to MARPOL allows the use of exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) as an alternative method of compliance with the marine fuel sulfur limit.

6. Shore power is generally used by vessels with moderate power requirements; typically less than 50 to 100 kW. These vessels are capable of making use of normal grid voltage and frequency, and replace the energy from the generators with the shore power. To serve larger vessels with shore power, dedicated and relatively costly installations are required, both on land and on board the vessels. This may include upgrading the grid capacity, frequency converters and complex high power connectors. Consequently, relatively few vessels and ports are capable of making use of shore power, and any related benefits may not outweigh the costs.

With respect to item four:

The Board does not have the legal authority under the Virginia Air Pollution Control Law to regulate water quality.