The LPDD team is proud to announce the release of a new model law amending the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, available here. In LPPD chapter 17, chapter author Aoife O’Leary of the Environmental Defense Fund made the recommendation that “Congress should require all ships to track and then report all greenhouse gases emitted from the last port of call to the U.S. port of call, require that information to be made public, and support the development of efficiency rankings” (LPDD Ch. 17, page 455). This piece of model legislation accomplishes that goal by amending the existing Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).
The model legislation requires promulgation of U.S. regulations to require reporting to the United States of ship fuel oil consumption data and CO2 emissions data from ships calling on U.S. ports, and to make the data publicly available, referred to as a monitoring, reporting, and verification framework. The model legislation includes elements of a CO2 emissions data program implemented in the European Union, and can be viewed as complementing related reporting required under international law.
The posted resource includes this model legislation, as well as an annotated copy of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships highlighting these changes, and a supporting legal memorandum. This memorandum first sets forth the context of model legislation under international law. The memorandum then describes the greenhouse gas reporting program for ships that is presently required under international law, implemented in the United States through APPS. The memorandum then describes the existing European Union program, and its further scope. This is followed by a discussion of pertinent U.S. law, including APPS, as well as a discussion of other U.S. greenhouse gas reporting programs. Lastly, the Memorandum sets forth anticipated legal issues pertaining to the model legislation.
These resources were drafted by Mary Capdeville, and peer review was provided by Ms. O’Leary and Jon Jacobs, Director of Climate Spheres, who worked in enforcement for the US EPA for 27 years.
We’re thrilled to share their work with you. The model law and supporting documents are available here.