Bluewater Network

              Recently, several cruise ship lines have been faced with increased public embarrassment and serious punitive legal troubles from disclosure and scrutiny over their non-compliance with local, national, and international laws and regulations concerning illegal dumping of pollutant wastes.  Secret ocean dumping of waste materials -- primarily liquids -- apparently has become an effective means for companies to reduce spending on pollutant reducing technology and for retaining income as reported profits.  For example, a recent article in USA Today reported that, “It is very costly to buy adequate filtering/ collecting equipment, maintain equipment, replace filters and membranes and dispose of waste on land (Adams 2002)”.  For cruise line industries, it is much more cost efficient to by-pass environmental waste disposal regulations and dump toxic waste such as perchloroethylene (PERC) from dry cleaning; benzene and toluene from paint and solvents; and oily waste from fuel and machine oil into the ocean.  The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was created to impose serious penalties for the illegal dumping of oil, wastewater, sewage, and other toxic and hazardous substances. “The cruise ship, The Norway, owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, cost the new owner, Colin Veitch, approximately $1 million in fines for illegally dumping oily waste into the ocean. Veitch found out about the falsified records by the crew of the Norway, which mislead the Coast Guard into thinking pollution was occurring at a legal level and agreed to plead guilty to the Justice Department (Adams 2002)”. The fines to be paid by Norwegian Cruise Lines were a small amount compared to other major cruise lines. The Justice Department argued that the relatively small $1million fine was a reward to Norwegian's new owners for voluntarily reporting pollution problems and assisting the government (Adams 2002).  However, some improvements are being made. “Since early 2000, Veitch says, Norwegian has invested $ 22 million in pollution-control equipment, training and testing on all ships (Adams 2002)”.

               Other major industries that have been found guilty of illegally dumping pollution into oceans include Royal Caribbean Cruises and Carnival Corporation. “In April, Carnival Corp. pleaded guilty to falsifying records to cover up oil pollution by six ships over several years. It paid an $ 18 million fine, and the company is on probation. A new violation could prompt new criminal charges (Adams 2002)”. Royal Caribbean Cruises has had to pay up to $27 million in recent years (Adams 2002). The amount of waste generated by one cruise resembles the amount of waste created by a small city. Regulation is generally not being enforced properly due to the numerous amounts of cruise ships that operate. Therefore, cruise line industries have great economic incentives to lie and cheat about the reality of their pollution disposal. The possibilities of fines are insufficient to gain compliance when weighed against costs of upgrading equipment.

                One of the biggest problems with water pollution regulation is that over the last several years there have been many regulatory acts and policies on the state, federal and international levels made to enact a solution to water pollution. The issue of accountability arises when regulations of acts and polices overlap with each other, as well as which agencies are accountable to specific territories.  The uncertainty of “whose job is it” to enforce specific regulation becomes extremely questionable.  Several acts and policies as well as both the government and non-government agencies will be discussed to determine what their role is regarding water pollution and how it relates to illegal acts of the cruise line industry.

                The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Congress enacted the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.  The purpose of this act was to declare a national policy, which would promote a more pleasurable relationship between humans and their environment. This included taking actions to prevent or eliminate damage to the environment as well as advance understanding of ecological systems.  The Federal government recognized the fact that the population of the earth was increasing and something needed to be done to promote the general welfare of the country. Maintaining sustainable conditions in which humans could live peacefully was one of the main goals of the act. Another major development in this act was to establish a Council on Environmental Quality.  NEPA gave the Federal Government an incredible amount of responsibility to make sure that all regulations and policies regarding the environment were implemented as well as taking all necessary actions to protect the environment to the highest degree.

                The Clean Water Act of 1972 gave the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. The act is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States.  The term water is broadly based and includes the nation’s lakes, streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, and territorial seas. Basically, its main goals were to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the nation’s waters and achieve water quality levels that are both fishable and swimmable.  Discharging any toxic or non-toxic pollution without a permit was made illegal.  As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. A point source pollutant is one that comes from Municipal Wastewater Treatment as well as industrial discharges (i.e. dumping of waste from cruise ships into the ocean directly). The Clean Water Act has five main elements. The first is a system of minimum national effluent standards for each industry. The second is water quality standards. Third is a discharge permit program that translates these standards into enforceable limits. Fourth are provisions for special problems such as toxic chemicals and oil spills. Lastly, is a revolving construction loan program for publicly owned treatment works (POTWs).

                The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Congress also enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act in 1972. This act dealt with the unregulated dumping of hazardous materials into oceans waters that directly affect and endanger human health and welfare. Also, it dealt with the effects of pollution on marine environment and ecosystems. Congress declared that it was the policy of the United States to regulate the dumping of all types of material into ocean waters and to prevent or limit any dumping of materials that may have a consequential effect on human life, the marine environmental or other ecosystems. It is also the policy of the United States to monitor the transportation of any sea-going vessels, which may dispose of hazardous materials.

                One of the most important Agencies in dealing with any environmental issue is the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA was created in 1970 for the main purpose of protecting human health and the natural environment.  EPA works closely with other federal agencies, state and local governments, and Indian tribes to develop and enforce regulations under existing environmental laws. EPA is responsible for researching and setting national standards for a variety of environmental programs and delegates to states and tribes responsibility for issuing permits, and monitoring and enforcing compliance. Where national standards are not met, EPA can issue sanctions and take other steps to assist the states and tribes in reaching the desired levels of environmental quality. The Agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.

                The International Council of Cruise lines works along with United States Federal agencies to enforce pollution polices The mission of the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) is to participate in the regulatory and policy development process and promote all measures that foster a safe, secure and healthy cruise ship environment.

                The International Maritime Organization was established in 1948 by a conference in Geneva. The main purpose of the IMO was to create technology to help prevent ship accidents and also minimize their consequences should an accident occur. The IMO also deals with compensation issues for those people who suffer from the consequences of pollution. The purposes of the Organization, as summarized by Article 1(a) of the Convention, are "to provide machinery for cooperation among Governments in the field of governmental regulation and practices relating to technical matters of all kinds affecting shipping engaged in international trade; to encourage and facilitate the general adoption of the highest practicable standards in matters concerning maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships". The Organization is also empowered to deal with administrative and legal matters related to these purposes.

Congress enacted the United States Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, in 1980. Although this act is usually associated with landfills, it also regulated hazardous waste disposal on all commercial vessels. It imposes civil liability and mandates recovery of damages to natural resources and pollution clean-up costs incurred by federal and state governments.

The Bluewater Network is a non-profit organization that declared its independence from the Earth Island Institute in the year 2002.  One its main purposes is to deal with environmental damage from shipping industries, however, they also deal with the root causes of climate change as well as other environmental damages from oil, motor and recreation industries. The headquarters of the organization is located in California. The Bluewater Network is also located in all fifty states, in addition to 4 other countries.  They have played a major role in lobbying the EPA to enforce environmental regulations specifically dealing with water pollution from cruise ships.  As stated previously, there are multiple acts and policies that indicate the need for environmental regulation, however, not all of them are implemented at the proper level. In March of the year 2000, the Bluewater Network sent a petition to the Administrator of the EPA on behalf of fifty-three organizations suggesting the gaps in regulation of cruise ship water pollution are at dangerous levels for causing severe damage to the environment.  The damage occurs in not only artic waters, but other warmer coastal waters as well, such as along the coastline of California.  Basically, the Bluewater Network wanted the EPA to assess cruise ship discharges and address the industry’s waste management practices. The EPA responded by saying that it will assess cruise ship discharges, however, a survey must be conducted to collect the data because such data did not already exist. The idea was to use a plume tracking survey, which would allow for the correct measurement of wastes being discharged into the water. This would be done using special chemicals to react with the waste.  The Bluewater Network wanted the cruise ship industry to take responsibility for its actions.

                In April 2002, the Bluewater Network played a key role in a lawsuit against major cruise line industries such as Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America and Carnival that dock along the California coasts are violating a federal ballast water law that was passed in the year 2000. Ballast water most often contains invasive species that invade and destroy local ecosystems. This is an example of a law being violated on the state level. The law requires that any ship sailing into California from outside the United States two hundred mile coastal zone to hold or treat any ballast water. Apparently, the cruise lines were not willing to cooperate and find a solution to the problem, according to a letter received in August of 2001 from the State Land Commissioner.

                It appears obvious that although there are many acts and policies that exist to protect the world’s water systems and punish those who violate them, not that much has been done in recent years to enforce regulation. The cruise line industry is a perfect example to illustrate how easy it is to escape the burden of environmental regulations of proper waste disposal.  The laws that are in place to protect the oceans and other waterways from pollution are all over the place. It is extremely difficult to distinguish which agencies are responsible for implementing, enforcing, and monitoring laws and regulations.  Additionally, on a local, state, federal, and international level, more complications arise with determining the responsibilities of these agencies and governments.

                The Environmental Protection Agency as well as the United States Coast Guard, under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, plays the most important roles in implementing policies and regulations. Surprise inspections occur on a seemingly regular basis, which appear to catch some violators. A problem, however, is that even surprise inspections are made aware to cruise ships. Some cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean, admitted in court it had installed special pipes on some ships -- removed before every scheduled Coast Guard inspection -- to bypass pollution-control devices that prevent oily dumping. Crew members from different cruise lines, specifically, Norwegian, admitted to falsifying disposal reports that mislead the Coast Guard.

                There are economic incentives for people in this industry to lie and cheat and attempt to get away with breaking the laws. One must remember that civil lawsuits are hardly ever brought into court. Charges being brought against cruise lines are criminal charges that are much more severe. The Department of Justice has stepped up in its role of prosecuting and following through with fines on cruise lines.  The fines are usually paid to the EPA.

                It is possible to say that the cruise ship industries cannot take full responsibility of following all of the regulations because they do not even know what they all are. If the Federal government does not even know what the laws are, it would be unfair to expect the cruise industry to do so. The cruise industry probably does care about cleaning up their wastes and protecting public interests but they are also trying to protect their industry and profits made. This represents a classic conflict of interest.

To say that federal and states governments were not doing their job at all would be incorrect. It is more correct to say that the implementation has been occurring at a more satisfactory rate within the last few years. It is non-profit organizations such as the Bluewater Network that lobby federal agencies and bring charges against cruise lines in state courts in order to make a difference in the environmental regulation.

                A lot of the damage has already been done to marine environments across the world. The Bluewater Network first began in Kerala, India when a man named Dr. Russell Long traveled there and discovered that the fishing population was suffering due to damage caused by engines of water vessels. Most of the wastes that are being dumped into the oceans are extremely toxic and marine life simply cannot survive in those conditions.

                A possible solution to the implementation problem of regulation concerning ocean pollution would be to create a new piece of legislation that combined several of the different acts and polices already in tact in the United States. I have found that some pieces overlap and it would be much simpler to just have one act or policy to look at instead of many of the ones I mentioned earlier. This might begin to create a larger amount of accountability.

 Questions or Comments? Email me: Elaine Baum

l

This is a picture of a typical cruise ship.