Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has been raising with Ministers concerns over the high levels of pollution created by large ships, many of which are now moored off the Devon coast due to the credit crunch.
Claims have recently been made that European Governments had underestimated the health impacts of pollution, with a recent study showing that hundreds of premature deaths in Denmark resulted from high levels of shipping pollution.
With the English Channel as one of the World’s busiest shipping lanes, there are fears that there may be serious health impacts for coastal communities that have not been fully explored and that the Government is not looking at preventing.
Ships produce on average more than 50,000 times more pollution than a medium sized car.
Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has offered reassurances that emissions standards will be implemented but these are still some way off. Caps on sulphur emissions will not fully be in place until 2020 and only ship engines built after 2016 will be subject to more rigorous technological standards.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has recently published a report condemning the Government’s lack of action.
It stated that ‘the Government’s position on the use of emissions trading to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from ships is too vague’ and that ‘the current methodology for calculating international shipping emissions underestimates actual emissions.’
Adrian commented: “This level of pollution, generated by the shipping industry, could pose a serious threat to people in Torbay and other coastal areas. We have had a limited exclusion zone in the English Channel since late 2007 but there are so many more things the Government could be doing to reduce pollution.”
“Moreover we don’t know the extent of the problem. Current research is too vague and the Government needs to look into this more and take steps now to reduce emissions.”
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