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The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) has failed in its appeal against the implementation of clean fuel regulations in California in 2009.

The court's decision means shipowners operating within a 24-mile zone from the coast of California will still be required to burn either marine gas oil (MGO), with a maximum of 1.5% sulphur, or marine diesel oil (MDO), with a maximum of 0.50% sulfur in their main engines, auxiliary engines or boilers.

In its lawsuit the PMSA argued that the Submerged Lands Act of 1953 precluded California from regulating vessels beyond its territorial boundaries, and that the rules violated the Dormant Commerce Clause.

The PMSA’s case had already been overturned by the Eastern District of California in July 2009. At the time, Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. of the Eastern District of California concluded: “There is no indication in either the [Submerged Lands Act] itself, or within its legislative history, to suggest that Congress intended the [Submerged Lands Act] to prevent coastal states like California herein from regulating offshore air pollution from ocean-going vessels . . . the effects on California from ocean-going vessels pollution are both substantial and beyond any reasonable doubt.”

In its ruling on Monday 28th March 2011, the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, conculded that the initial ruling by the Eastern District of California had been correct.

"In the end, acknowledge the unusual characteristics and circumstances of the Vessel Fuel Rules. We are clearly dealing with an expansive and even possibly unprecedented state regulatory scheme. However, the severe environmental problems confronting California (especially Southern California) are themselves unusual and even unprecedented. Under the circumstances, we do not believe that the Commerce Clause or general maritime law should be used to bar a state from exercising its own police powers in order to combat these severe problems," case documents filed on 28th March said.