General Dynamics NASSCO was recently honored by the Air Pollution Control District for its proactive efforts in protecting and preserving air quality.
SAN DIEGO, November 23, 2011 – General Dynamics NASSCO was recently honored by the Air Pollution Control District for its proactive efforts in protecting and preserving air quality.
During the Industrial Environmental Association’s 2011 Statewide Environmental Summit, the San Diego Air Pollution Control District presented General Dynamics NASSCO and BAE Systems with its Blue Sky Leadership Award. The award recognizes companies that have made significant contributions to improve air quality. NASSCO and BAE received the award for their combined efforts in developing an environmental compliance training program and streamlined reporting system for marine painting contractors operating at San Diego shipyards and naval installations.
The environmental compliance training program continues to help contractors better understand and follow applicable air pollution control regulations related to marine painting. Initially developed by NASSCO, the program utilizes data validation features to improve the quality of required paint usage reports and reduce data entry errors and is now standardized across local shipyards so that contractors do not have to use different reporting formats for different facilities. These efforts have resulted in improved contractor compliance with air pollution control regulations, which is important to preventing air pollution. In addition, the new reporting system continues to improve the quality of paint usage reports, reducing processing and review time and the potential for violations and penalties.
NASSCO’s efforts in streamlining the reporting system for marine painting contractors is just one of the recent initiatives the shipyard has voluntarily undertaken to further reduce the air emissions typically associated with shipbuilding and repair operations.
At NASSCO, two fully enclosed automated prime lines and five fully enclosed paint cells have thermal oxidizer control equipment installed that is 97 percent effective in destroying paint solvent emissions. When this blast and paint facility is operating at maximum capacity, up to 200 tons of solvent emissions are eliminated per year. In addition, all plasma cutters and weld stiffner lines at the shipyard have air filtration systems installed that reduce particulate emissions by 99.99 percent.
NASSCO’s air quality preservation efforts also continue to reduce nitrogen oxide and diesel exhaust emissions. Catalytic reduction systems and diesel particulate filters are installed on all of NASSCO’s cranes. The shipyard has also reduced its reliance on diesel generators by upgrading its power requirements to depend on an electric grid system. These efforts have reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 32.5 tons per year and the amount of diesel particulate expended by 2.5 tons per year. An engine replacement program to reduce emissions from forklifts, tugboats and other equipment has also been implemented. Since 2004, these programs have reduced total diesel emissions by more than 72 percent.
General Dynamics NASSCO is the only major ship construction yard on the West Coast of the United States. More information about NASSCO can be found at www.nassco.com.
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