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Pollution at California's ports has been a long-standing topic of controversy, with charges that it is negatively affecting the health of those who live nearby. But new rules announced in mid-October are getting tougher on one source of emissions that has so far been ignored. At the Port of Oakland, the concerns over pollution have been two-fold: the semi-trucks waiting for pickup and delivery and the giant ships themselves, as they sit, sometimes for days with engines running to keep the ship operating. But in 2007, new rules mandated that ships drastically cut their emissions by plugging into shore power and kill their engines. "So, if you're a container ship and you're at the Port of Oakland or the Port of L.A. or Long Beach, we plug in more container ships at those ports than any other ports in the entire world," said Mike Jacob, with the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. Jacob said his industry spent $1.5 billion installing the equipment and has achieved a cut in emissions of 80 percent, as a result. "There's absolutely no question that this is a rule that we have successfully implemented, as an industry, for the better part of a decade," he said. "We are exceptionally proud of the investments that we've made."
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