Last week a federal judge threatened to temporarily ban Carnival Cruise Corp. from docking its ships in U.S. Ports for violating probation—a probation enforced, along with a $40 million settlement, after the company pleaded guilty to seven felony charges related to deliberately polluting the seas for eight years.
The company was on probation for illegally dumping oil into the ocean from its Princess Cruise ships and lying about it to authorities. While on probation, prosecutors found the company falsified records and made other attempts to avoid “unfavorable findings by preparing ships in advance of court-ordered audits,” according to the reporting by the Miami Herald.
While on probation last summer, Carnival’s subsidiary company’s Holland America’s ship, the Westerdam, illegally dumped 26,000 gallons of greywater into Glacier Bay National Park. The boat regularly docks in Haines during the cruise ship season. The Westerdam also violated air emission standards last summer—one of eight cruise ships cited for the same violation during the same time in Southeast Alaska. The emissions included excess levels of nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide and other particulates that are harmful to human health and the environment.
The Noordam, also a Holland America ship, was cited for dumping untreated greywater in Juneau and other locations, according to a 2018 Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation cruise ship wastewater report.
In May 2018, the small-cruise line UnCuise’s Wilderness Adventurer, the most frequent ship that docks in Haines, exceeded its fecal coliform bacteria limit. Alaska state standards limit levels at 200 “fecal colonies” per 100ml of sampled water. Inspectors found 19,000,000 fecal colonies per 100ml when they sampled water from the ship. Three other small ships that come to Haines also exceeded standards.
These samples are collected by the DEC’s “Ocean Ranger Program,” which places U.S. Coast Guard licensed marine engineers on board ships that carry 250-passengers or more. The state charges $4 per passenger to pay for the program which does not cost Alaska any money.
Alaskans should be highly concerned that the newly appointed Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner wants to end this monitoring program, which was created after Alaska voters approved the ballot measure in 2006. Our DEC commissioner, Jason Brune, was a former public affairs and government relations manager for Anglo American, one of the world’s largest mining conglomerates and a one-time partner in the Pebble Mine project.
Brune told legislators the program should end because “No other industry in the state is subject to 24/7 on-site observers.”
The DEC is charged with reducing pollution for the safety and welfare of Alaskans. It appears its leader has the opposite agenda, which is reducing regulations for the safety and welfare of big industry.
-Kyle Clayton, publisher