TITLE
Recommendation to refer this issue to the State Legislative Committee to consider recommending to the full City Council support for state legislation to reinstate the SUT on bunker fuel and to designate that tax for local public health programs to care for residents suffering respiratory illness; to request the Port of Long Beach to impose a "pollution impact charge" on any ship using bunker fuel and to designate that charge for public health programs to care for residents suffering respiratory illness.
DISCUSSION
According to the State of California Legislative Analyst: The term "bunker fuel" refers to fuel that is used to propel ships.
Bunker fuel is made from the very end products of the oil refining process, A process, that separates lighter, cleaner, more commercially valuable liquids like gasoline and kerosene. Formulated from residues remaining from the primary distilling stages of the refining process bunker fuel is a black, viscous substance laden with heavy metals, sulfur and other polluting chemicals. In some parts of the world, the residues also are used for the manufacturing of asphalt, and in some cases, to produce petroleum coke used in blast furnaces for steel production. It's the dirtiest of fuels and it used mostly by the shipping industry.
The main advantage of bunker fuels to the shipping industry is that it is an inexpensive and cost-effective option for massive ship engines that burn fuels other engines can't use.
The health effects of bunker fuel are serious.
Tiny particles of pollution and chemicals released through ship exhaust were linked to the premature death of about 60,000 people with heart and lung ailments in 2002, according to an article published the November 2007 edition of Environmental Science & Technology, the journal of the American Chemical Society.
Further, if bunker fuel spills, it gums up beaches, marshes and other ecosystems. Animals take it for food or ingest it as they try to clean their coats, and the o...
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