Editor:
Re: Port anticipating phased adoption of shore power, letter to the editor, Aug. 29
Don't hold your breath on that one. Port Metro Vancouver is good at making promises but less so in getting them done.
For example, Port Metro Vancouver committed to bury the port causeway power lines many years ago. In fact, they were even instructed to do so. The power lines are still not buried.
Peter Xotta says he is proud of the shore power installation at Canada Place. Surprising, since only last month the Vancouver Sun carried an article titled "Most cruise ships not tapping into shore power." Not only that but the pollution from vessels calling at Vancouver is an evergrowing problem. According to data from Metro Vancouver, 10 per cent of all smog-forming pollutants causing air pollution are from ships calling at Vancouver area ports. This average is derived by including carbon dioxide (CO2) as one of the pollutants, but CO2 isn't a health risk in the usual sense, and is nearly all contributed by other sources (e.g. cars and industry), not ships.
There is a huge amount of CO2 generated in the air shed, in tonnage terms compared to the other real pollutants. It, therefore, skews the average to make ships look relatively benign. But take out CO2 from the average and the percentage contribution of ships to the real pollution situation gets much worse.
The serious and major pollutants in the Metro Vancouver air shed include NOx, diesel particulate matter and sulphur dioxide. Ships are today contributing 14 per cent, 38 per cent and 79 per cent, respectively, of these key pollutants, obviously much more than the 10 per cent figure widely quoted.
Ship pollution affects not only Delta but the whole Lower Mainland and it is time Port Metro Vancouver started to address legitimate concerns expressed by the community.
Roger Emsley
