35640.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California’s seaports are North America’s primary intermodal gateway to Asia and Transpacific trade. Maritime industry activities at California’s public seaports are responsible for employing more than 500,000 people in the state. Nationwide, more than 2,000,000 jobs are linked to maritime industry business conducted at California’s public seaports, contributing to California having the largest state economy in the United States.
(b) Every year, the world’s largest container ships and auto carriers make thousands of transits along the California coast, with an
estimated 185 tons per day of nitrogen oxides, an ozone precursor, being emitted along the coast. These emissions negatively affect the public health of coastal communities and cause some areas of the coast to be in nonattainment with the national ambient air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter.
(c) Since 2014, the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, with the federal Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, marine sanctuary foundations, and environmental groups, have administered and promoted the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program, a voluntary vessel speed reduction program off the Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Bay Area coasts to encourage transit speeds of 10 knots or less to reduce air pollution, the
risk of harmful whale strikes, and the level of ocean noise.
(d) Since its inception through 2023, the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program has provided small incentives and publicity to program participants and has achieved over 1,100,000 slow speed miles, a reduction of more than 4,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, a reduction of over 150,000 metric tons of regional greenhouse gas emissions, and an estimated 50 percent decreased risk of whale strikes during prime migration season in the affected coastal areas.
(e) This highly cost-effective voluntary pollution reduction program developed and administered at the local government level benefits public health, protects the marine ecosystem, and showcases the beneficial partnership between shipping companies, public
health agencies, marine sanctuaries, and environmental organizations.
(f) Expansion of the vessel speed reduction program to other areas of the California coast, including the San Diego and Monterey coasts and the North Coast, would yield additional public health and ecosystem benefits.
35641.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that expansion of the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program by local air pollution control districts and air quality management districts and stakeholders is a critical strategy in advancing protection of marine mammals through partnerships that also support the maritime industry and local public health.(b) Subject to the availability of funding, the council shall participate as a stakeholder, and in an advisory capacity, to the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program with air pollution control districts and air quality management districts along the coast and other stakeholders, including the federal Office of National
Marine Sanctuaries, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the State Air Resources Board, and maritime industry, to support, in an advisory capacity, coastal air districts in their efforts to implement a statewide voluntary vessel speed reduction and sustainable shipping program for the California coast in order to reduce air pollution, the risk of fatal vessel strikes on whales, and harmful underwater acoustic impacts.
(c) Expansion of the existing Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program by local air pollution control districts and air quality management districts shall be a single unified program, and may include all of the following components developed in a manner that is
consistent with how the program components were developed for the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program:
(1) A marketing program to engage cargo owners and other commercial interests to promote voluntary vessel speed reduction
and sustainable shipping, and an acknowledgment of the program’s participants.
(2) Data collection on ship speeds along the California coast in order to analyze the program for future refinement, expansion, or both.
(3) Data collection on underwater acoustic impacts or fatal vessel strikes on whales, to the extent data is available.
(4) Data collection on the regional air quality impacts on the coast and impacts to air quality in coastal disadvantaged communities from oceangoing vessel traffic, as collected and provided by the regional air pollution control districts and air quality management districts.
(5) Incentives to program
participants based on a percentage of distance traveled by a participating vessel at a reduced speed, including speed zones at 10 knots or less, to the extent that local or federal funding is available.
(6) Development of vessel speed reduction zones along the coast that take into account navigational safety, protected marine mammal migration and breeding seasons, federal marine sanctuaries and state marine protected areas, shipping lanes, and any other relevant variables.
(7) Seasonality of the program.
(8) Description of covered vessels.
(d) The program shall exclude any ocean territories that are covered by any vessel speed reduction program other than
the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program or a memorandum of understanding entered into before January 1, 2025.
(e) The program shall only apply to vessels that are 300 gross tons or greater.
(f) (1) On or before December 31, 2028, the participating air pollution control districts and air quality management districts shall submit a report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the program.
(2) The report required in paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the requirement for submitting a report imposed by paragraph
(1) is inoperative on December 31, 2032.
(g) The program and each component of the program are based upon voluntary actions initiated by entities pursuant to this section and are not regulations as defined in Section 11342.600 of the Government Code, and shall not be implemented in a way that conflicts with federal law and regulations.