Sponsors (17)
Introduced July 10, 2025 by Robert Garcia · Last progress July 10, 2025
The bill trades higher near-term costs and infrastructure/administrative burdens for maritime operators, ports, and ratepayers in exchange for significant long‑term reductions in greenhouse gases and local air pollution with improved transparency and regulatory alignment to spur investment in zero‑emission shipping.
All Americans (via national emissions) and communities near ports: the bill drives large, long-term reductions in maritime greenhouse gas emissions by requiring progressively lower lifecycle fuel carbon intensity, contributing to national climate goals and reducing economy-wide climate risks.
Residents and workers in and near ports (urban communities, port workers, children, seniors): the law requires elimination or maximal reduction of in-port emissions by 2035, which will lower exposure to air pollution and improve public health outcomes (fewer respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses).
Owners/operators of internationally operating vessels and investors: harmonizing monitoring/reporting with IMO/EU rules, allowing averaging and banking of credits, and clear statutory deadlines create regulatory certainty, reduce compliance complexity for international fleets, and can spur investment in zero‑emission technologies.
Shippers, small businesses, and consumers: shipowners and operators will face higher compliance costs to transition fuels, retrofit or replace vessels, or buy credits, which is likely to increase shipping costs and consumer prices.
Local governments, utilities, and ratepayers: meeting zero‑emission targets will require substantial port infrastructure upgrades (shore power, hydrogen, charging) and upfront investments that impose costs on ports, utilities, and local ratepayers and could cause short‑term workforce displacement as jobs shift sectors.
Vessel owners/operators, EPA, and industry: short compliance timelines plus detailed annual monitoring/reporting create administrative burdens and may strain EPA resources and industry preparedness, increasing transitional costs and regulatory friction.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Directs EPA to impose phased lifecycle fuel carbon-intensity standards for large vessels and to eliminate emissions from vessels at berth/anchorage by 2035, with reporting requirements.
Requires the EPA to set lifecycle carbon-intensity standards for fuel used by large commercial vessels on domestic and U.S.–foreign voyages, with phased reduction targets that tighten through 2050 and reporting requirements for vessel operators. It also directs EPA to issue standards to eliminate greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions from vessels at berth or anchorage in the U.S. contiguous zone by 2035 (or the maximum feasible reductions if full elimination is not feasible).