Published Date:
31-Jan-2012
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While the legislation aims to reduce emissions of harmful gases and particles, environmental groups are also hoping to build support for accelerating the use of cleaner-burning fuels.

The environmental groups argue that in the event of a spill, cleaner and lighter fuels would cause less damage than heavy fuel. Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground near Italy on Jan. 13, used heavy fuel.

Burning heavy fuel oil releases sulfur dioxide, which can contribute to acid rain and leads to the formation of small particles that can cause respiratory disorders.

Environmental groups say that heavy fuel oil takes longer than lighter marine diesel to evaporate and dissipate.

Much of the oil on board the Costa Concordia, when cold, is as thick as crude oil or bitumen. Salvage teams hope to apply heat to make it less viscous before pumping it out of the vessel’s fuel tanks.

Yet lighter forms of fuel oil are more expensive, and a tussle is already developing over the reach of the legislation.

Transport & Environment, an environmental group, has said that two Italian members of the European Parliament would try to introduce amendments to the legislation on Tuesday that would shield passenger ships, including cruise liners, from some important aspects of the law.

Passenger ships in Europe can now use fuels with 1.5 percent sulfur, according to the environmental group. Under the proposed law, the only fuel that would be allowed on passenger ships in Europe, including in the Mediterranean, would contain one-tenth of 1 percent sulfur as of 2020, the group said.

The amendments by Italian legislators would allow passenger ships to carry fuel with 1.5 percent sulfur until as late as 2025, the group said.

Salvatore Tatarella and Elisabetta Gardini, the lawmakers proposing the amendments, did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment.

In arguing for the amendments, the members wrote that some elements of the proposed law went beyond what had already been agreed upon under the main international convention meant to limit marine pollution, called Marpol. And some of these elements, they wrote, should be decided under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization instead.

The rules to lower the sulfur content of fuel used by ships were proposed last year by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body.

Commission officials declined to comment on the issue before Tuesday, when the Parliament’s environment committee is expected to vote on the bill. The vote is one of several steps required before the measure can become law.