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The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority will today consider using nearly $1.5 million from the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program to reimburse Maersk Line.

The issue of awarding $1,497,909 in grant program funds to Maersk Line will be reviewed during the Port Commission's regular public meeting on Tuesday, April 27, beginning at 9 a.m. in the boardroom of the Port Authority Executive Building, 111 East Loop North (Exit 29 off Loop 610) in Houston.

Chairman Jim Edmonds will preside over the meeting with Commissioner Steve Phelps, Commissioner Jim Fonteno, Commissioner Kase Lawal, Commissioner Jimmy Burke, Commissioner Janiece Longoria, and Commissioner Elyse Lanier.

The National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program was set up to support the implementation of verified and certified diesel emission reduction technologies.

Funded projects are required to achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions, particularly from fleets operating in areas designated as having poor air quality.

Fuel Switching

Maersk Line last year conducted the first ever "fuel switch" feasibility study in the Gulf of Mexico as the result of a partnership with the Port of Houston Authority and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The project was designed to show the effectiveness of using lower-sulphur fuels in ocean-going vessels and to calculate the air pollutant emissions reductions achieved by switching from high to lower sulphur marine fuel.

In August 2009, the Port Commission of The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) authorized a program to distribute nearly $2.9 million in funds to assist ocean-going vessels in switching to cleaner fuels.

Commissioners approved administering $2.85 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds to benefit the Port of Houston maritime industry, through the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grant program.

Each year, more than 8,000 vessel calls at the port, which ranks first in the U.S. in foreign waterborne tonnage and second in overall total tonnage