Friday, January 27, 2006, 10:00 am
Notes of conference call

Attending call: Sean Jacobs, Perry Pandya, Alison Tracy, Kassahun Sellassie, Jack Lebeau, Angela Skowronek

A report prepared by Kassahun titled, "Philadelphia Port Diesel Emission Reduction Strategies Plan" was circulated for reference before the call. We have available funds of up to $90,000 from an EPA National Clean Diesel grant for a retrofit project at a port facility. It's assumed that these funds are to be used in a non-traditional application. Some suggestions were brought up during the meeting. The port of LA and Long Beach were cited as a good example of a large-scale port retrofit project.

Sources
We reviewed the list of sources for air toxics at the ports in Philadelphia. The list includes trucks, locomotives, stationary yard equipment, ocean-going vessels, fueling stations, power generators, and fumigation from produce, cleaning or painting. A more detailed list is outlined on the first page the report cited above.

Pollutants
The pollutants from these sources considered most harmful include PM, SOx, NOx, and VOC's. It was noted that roughly 91 tons of diesel particulate matter in Philadelphia comes from port activity.

Strategies for addressing air pollutants
We identified some potential projects for addressing the list of pollution sources and pollutants. There was a consensus that more specific numbers were needed in order to determine where we can get the most emission reduction with the limited funds available. Suggestions included:

Auxilary power units (APU)- This is a device that would limit idling on port equipment. It seems like there is enough money available to install APU's on entire fleets at the ports. Yard hustlers were mentioned as a top candidate.

Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOC)- This is a device that is retrofitted on an existing diesel engine. There is practically zero maintenance required once the devise is installed. Several people on the call said this would be the most cost-effective means of addressing the top pollutants on the list. These are currently used on equipment at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
*Tugboats were mentioned as a good potential retrofit project. Costs for installing DOC's depends on the size of the engine. The cost for retrofitting a tugboat with a DOC could cost anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000. The port of Baltimore is looking at retrofitting tugboats and switching to biodiesel.

Truck queuing- Trucks often queue for several hours waiting to pick up cargo from port warehouses. Making this process more efficient and reducing the idling time of trucks coming in and out of port facilities would have a large impact on the air quality in the surrounding communities. We need more information on this to determine if queuing is a serious problem in Philadelphia, especially at the larger facilities like Packer Terminal.

Cold Ironing- Briefly mentioned as a long-term project for Philadelphia. Not likely to get off the ground within the scope of this project.

Next Steps: Sean to research the idling laws for PA - how do they affect queuing at ports?
Sean to determine the number of tugboat fleets at Philadelphia ports and who owns/operates them.
Sean to approach Johnson Matthey - any past port-related projects?
Perry to find cost estimates for retrofit projects at the Port of Baltimore
Perry to check on idling times for equipment at ports.