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Facts Are Stubborn Things

The legislature considered several bills for environmental regulations on cruise ships during this past session. One bill, House Bill 260, was passed by the House on May 1. It was referred to my Senate Transportation committee on May 3rd. After posting the required 24 hour notice, I conducted a hearing on May 6th.

The large cruise lines expressed strong support for HB 260, but smaller cruise ship owners testified that HB 260 would put 85% of them out of business. I asked the large cruise ship operators to pledge to enter into a legally binding 'Memorandum of Understanding" that would include all the environmental restrictions, monitoring, and analysis, as well as the fee payments to cover the costs. They agreed. The finance committee approved legislation that would allow DEC to collect those fees.

I, as well as both large and small cruise lines, were opposed to adding a head tax to the environmental provisions of the bill. There was testimony that raised legal issues about federal maritime laws regarding state head taxes verses the Federal tonnage clause, plus the unknown economic consequences of either.

That leaves the smaller operators with a problem. I received 12 amendments from DEC and the smaller operators that were in conflict with each other. DEC supported these even with those conflicts. The small ship operators would not be able to meet the double standards and timelines set out for larger ships. I believe our State constitution is very plain on the issue of equality. That standard is not met. Smaller port communities depend on passenger traffic from small vessels, and the impact of unrealistic regulations would be devastating to them. The committee wanted to evaluate this before acting. Those differences need to be worked on.

HB 260 is not the only proposal for regulating cruise ship discharges. Three other bills were introduced in Alaska. For the past two years the state, EPA, the US Coast Guard, the industry, and citizens groups have developed a program to monitor and evaluate waste water discharges and air emissions.

Senator Murkowski sponsored legislation that passed last year which seems to cover all the above mentioned issues. It restricts wastewater discharges and requires monitoring and stiff penalties for non-compliance. The US coast Guard is responsible for enforcement. The Murkowski cruise ship discharge legislation is working. One ship self reported a prohibited discharge on May 3rd to Coast Guard on May 4th. Quick action was taken on May 5th and a citation was issued as well as a stiff penalty being assessed. The cruise lines have now purchased and delivered four sets of special barges equipped to respond to spills.

I believe the US Coast Guard is the best enforcer of marine vessel regulations. They already inspect cruise ships several times a season. They have jurisdiction over safety and environmental matters. The system is not broken.

Meanwhile, testimony before the Senate Transportation Committee raised new concerns. The administration testified that State ferries would meet the new standards. However at a later hearing, under direct questioning, the administration changed their minds. It seems that our Alaska State Ferries do not come close to meeting the new proposed standards. They would need to replace their wastewater treating systems to comply. The cost of this was estimated to be at least 7.5 million dollars on just 5 of our fleet of ferries.

I find it ironic that the Knowles administration spent $80,000,000 (not including a $50,000,000 over-run claim), on the new Kennicott ferry that did not have a modern waste water disposal system meeting the proposed standard in HB 260.

The large cruise ship operators have agreed to spend about $2 million for each vessel in the next two years. That's why the standards for treated graywater do not come into effect until 2003.

The system is working. The Knowles administration is putting their own spin on this, and the public has not gotten the complete and accurate story of how this issue has been responsibly dealt with by the legislature. However, FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS and these are the facts.

Senator John J. Cowdery
Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee

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