Small Ports Inventory

On November 19, 2008, the Board of Directors adopted a Green Ports Initiative to decrease emissions from commercial maritime activity in the Bay Area consisting of three interrelated elements:

• Enforcement of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) air toxic control regulations on mobile sources operating at or near ports;
• Grants to ports and their tenants for earlier or greater emission reductions than required by the CARB regulations;
• Evaluation of progress in reducing emissions through inventories, monitoring and public education.

In May 2009, as part of the third element of the Green Ports Initiative, the Air District signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Bay Planning Coalition (BPC) and the five public commercial ports, for the preparation of a maritime emissions inventory for four Bay Area public ports. These port-specific inventories were compiled by Air District staff and two consulting teams -- Moffatt & Nichols and ENVIRON – retained by the Bay Planning Coalition, and considered all major sources of emissions associated with port activities. Air District staff completed the harbor craft and locomotive emissions estimates in their entirety, and assisted with calculating ship emissions by compiling from private databases and ARB reports the characteristics of the vessels visiting each port.

To ensure a consistent set of inventories for all the public ports in the region, both the Air District staff and the Bay Planning Coalition’s consultant teams followed the methodologies used for a 2005 baseline inventory for the Port of Oakland.

The BAAQMD Staff Report on Maritime Emissions provides a more detailed description of this effort.

Commercial Maritime Seaport Inventories:

• Port of Benicia
• Port of Redwood City
• Port of Richmond
• Port of San Francisco