Cruise ships are continuing to break rules on waste water discharges, and have been getting very little pushback from federal authorities.
The Juneau based Southeast Alaska Conservation Council released data relating to the 2023 and 2024 season, showing hundreds of violations.
It found 17 ships had more than 700 violation days in Alaska over the two-year period. These ships are vessels with open-loop scrubber systems. These use sea water to clean the engine exhaust before the water is dumped back in the sea. In contrast, ships with closed-loop scrubbers discharge the waste water onshore.
Alaska Calls Out Weak Federal Enforcement
“It’s troubling that even with these very weak permit standards and self-reporting requirements, that the ships with open-loop scrubbers are still reporting hundreds of violations every year,” said Aaron Brakel, a campaigner at the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.
Cruise ships are required to self-report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the number of times they discharge water above federal limits. While the open-loop systems complies with air pollution standards, ”it can create a tremendous number of impacts on organisms in the marine environment,” Brakel added.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation doesn’t regulate water discharges of this kind. Standards are set for each pollutant based on statistical data. However “we can’t really say for certain that it is safe or that there will be impacts,” said Gene McCabe, head of the water division at the state agency.
While Alaska faults the lax enforcement at the federal level, the EPA says it has taken action against Carnival Corp which was fined $14,500 several years ago. As part of this enforcement action, the EPA relaxed standards so the cruise company could take corrective actions but Brakel says these relaxed rules are still in place today.
Brakel also cities another reporting gap which hampers the state from policing its waters effectively. He said the self-reporting system doesn’t include the requirement to disclose when or where the violations happened. This makes it difficult for local officials to hold the cruise industry accountable.
“If people can’t tell that this is happening, they have no way to respond to the industry to say,’ “Hey, what are you doing?’” Brakel said.
