On September 1st, a Special Act on the Improvement of Air Quality in Port Areas which reduces and manages air pollutant emissions was enforced. The reason of the enforcement is that existing fine dust countermeasures are mainly corresponding to large land cities and the concentration of fine dust in major port cities such as Busan and Incheon are as severe as Seoul.

With the enforcement, the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries will establish a comprehensive plan for air quality improvement in port areas every five years after prior consultation with the Minister of Environment and deliberation with the Maritime and Fisheries Development Committee. In addition, the head of the relevant administrative agency must take necessary measures to implement the relevant comprehensive plan. An air quality measurement network will be installed in the port area to investigate air quality and the results will be utilized for comprehensive marine environment information network.

In addition, ships must be eco-friendly when the heads of local governments and public institutions operate ships for purposes of Presidential Decrees. Moreover, a port businessman who transports cargo such as coal and grain that generates fugitive dust, must install facilities, or take measures to prevent the pollution. Lastly, access to port facilities is restricted for vehicles that are likely to emit a lot of air pollutants.

By Ha Yoon-Seok, Honorary Reporter

etud1996@pusan.ac.kr