Coast Guard Refuses to Enforce California’s New Environmental Regulation

The state of California is once again proving that it is a far-left outlier, and now even the U.S. Coast Guard won’t enforce one of the state’s outrageous new regulations because of “safety concerns” waiting to befall ships at sea.

The Coast Guard sent an official letter dated Feb. 21 to the California Air Resources Board to inform state officials that the branch will not penalize ships for lacking a new diesel exhaust particulate filter on their engines as required by a new state regulation.

In his letter, Rear Admiral Andrew M. Sugimoto, commander of the Eleventh District, told state officials that the new state regulation is dangerous because the devices that the state is demanding that ships install are prone to failure and have caused dangerous fires.

Adm. Sugimoto also pointed out that the diesel particulate filters (DPFs) called for by the CARB have not been approved for use by the Coast Guard or the federal government.

The admiral said that the Guard has concerns about “the potential safety issues over DPF operating temperatures” and that “DPFs verified by CARB may not necessarily be accepted by the Coast Guard for installation on inspected commercial vessels.”

“It is the engine manufacturers’ responsibility to ensure that engine systems are approved and certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for marine use and the applicable emission requirements,” Sugimoto’s letter reminds the left-wing state agency.

“And while final approval for the installation or modification of any system on vital machinery is the responsibility of the cognizant Coast Guard Officer in Charge, Marine Inspections, Coast Guard inspectors will not perform emission tests on vessels operating in U.S. waters to evaluate DFP system performance,” Sugimoto warned.

“Therefore, please note that the Coast Guard will not enforce California’s CHC Regulation,” the Adm. stated.

The American Waterways Operators also protested this wild new envirowacko rule in a letter sent last week to the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, urging him to intervene in the CARB’s meddlesome and dangerous regulation, according to Marine Log.

The AMO urged Newsom to “take immediate action to protect California’s harbor craft operators and coastal communities from untested and dangerous technology” and asked him to “rein in a state agency that is acting without necessary federal authorization.”

AMO president Jennifer Carpenter added that, “as of the date of this letter, CARB has not received authorization from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to Section 209(e) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to enforce this regulation. However, CARB has made it clear that it intends to continue to enforce the CHC rule deadlines without EPA authorization. This ill-advised position should be reconsidered not only for legal reasons, but also to protect mariner safety, the environment, and the California supply chain.”

Carpenter added that the device the CARB is demanding that ship owners install has never been approved as a safe device by the federal government and is also not part of the federally mandated safety standards to which they are also required to adhere.

The device the state agency is requiring has proven to be dangerous and in one case is linked to a 3,600-acre fire in Washington state, according to The Center Square.

The cost is also massive. Center Square added that the cost to refit a ship with the new devices will ring in at an outrageous $5 million per ship.

Not only that, but the state has imposed an absurd deadline of Jan 1, 2025, to have every ship used off the California coast outfitted with the emissions device. This deadline could not be satisfied even if the devices were safe to use because there are not enough parts in existence nor are there enough mechanics and drydock capabilities to outfit every ship that would need one in only ten months, the AMO noted.

California continues to push out a steady stream of absurd, unscientific, and flat out impossible regulations across many industries in an attempt to impose its extremist, green agenda on the whole country by forcing manufacturers and businesses who want to do business in California to toe its far-left enviornut agenda.

It has become so pervasive that 17 states have banded together to sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency to cancel the special rules it has for allowing California to make its own environmental rules. That began in 1970 when the federal government added that carve out to the Clean Air Act.

But, what we see here is just another example of how far California is from every other state and even from the federal government on its commitment to the shrill environmentalist agenda. And it is long past time California’s absurd regulations are reigned in and to end its special powers to coerce the rest of the country to abide by its extremist agenda.