Sponsors (2)
Official title: To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to assess certain fees on shipping and other vessels, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 10, 2025 by Doris Matsui · Last progress July 10, 2025
The bill aims to reduce port air pollution and shipping greenhouse gases by requiring detailed reporting and fee‑based incentives and by funding decarbonization programs, but it raises costs, compliance burdens, penalty and supply‑chain risks, and uncertainty about how revenues will be used—creating a trade‑off between local health/climate gains and higher costs and administrative burdens for shippers, ports, and consumers.
Residents of port and coastal communities (including low-income neighborhoods) would face lower air pollution exposure and related health risks as fees and incentives push vessels and harbor equipment toward cleaner fuels and zero‑emission technologies.
Shippers and the climate would see reduced greenhouse gas emissions because charging on lifecycle CO₂e and fuel-specific rules create market incentives to adopt lower‑carbon fuels and technologies.
Port authorities, regulators, and planners gain more timely, voyage‑level fuel and emissions data (quarterly reports and required lifecycle fuel profiles), improving transparency for fee-setting, local planning, and monitoring near-port pollution.
Importers, small businesses, and consumers are likely to face higher shipping costs (from fees and compliance) that will be passed through as higher prices for imported goods.
Shippers and port operators face substantial new compliance burdens and administrative complexity—quarterly voyage/cargo reporting, lifecycle accounting, multi-agency programs, and program-specific certification—which raises costs and staff time for firms and regulators.
Strict payment deadlines, steep escalating late penalties, and authority to block importation until fees/information are submitted create a material risk of cash‑flow stress for operators and could produce supply‑chain delays and port disruptions.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Imposes EPA lifecycle GHG and pollutant fees on large cargo voyages, requires voyage reporting, and directs 25% of revenues to decarbonize Jones Act vessels via grants/loans.
Creates a new EPA-administered fee system that charges cargo-vessel operators for lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and for combustion pollutants (NOx, SO2, PM) from voyages that end at U.S. ports, starting January 1, 2027. Fees scale with fuel consumed and pollutant intensity, increase in polar waters, allow partial credit for comparable foreign fees, and include strict reporting, late‑payment penalties, and import blocks until required data and fees are submitted. Sets aside 25% of fee revenues (starting FY2029) to fund a Maritime Administration program of grants, rebates, and low‑interest loans to retrofit or replace Jones Act vessels that use heavy fuel oil with battery or low‑carbon/zero‑emission propulsion; creates program priorities favoring GHG reductions, local air‑quality benefits, cost‑effectiveness, and disadvantaged areas. The fee regime sunsets if an international body implements an equivalent global fee and enforcement regime.