Posted on: Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Ship discharge bill debated
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Cruise ships would be subject to state regulations on waste discharges in Hawai'i waters, as well as penalties, under a bill approved by two state Senate committees yesterday.
The state Department of Health and cruise ship representatives said the bill isn't necessary and could be pre-empted by federal law, while environmental groups said the measure doesn't go far enough to protect Hawai'i's coastal waters.
Cruise ships operate under a voluntary agreement to refrain from dumping wastewater and chemicals in Hawai'i's coastal waters.
Environmental groups and others said the cruise ship industry needs to be regulated by state law. They said more than a dozen violations of the voluntary agreement occurred in the year after its adoption in October 2002.
The cruise industry argues the violations were minor and there is no need for a new state law.
The health department said there was only one discharge violation last year.
Robert Kritzman, executive vice president and managing director of Hawai'i operations for Norwegian Cruise Line's NCL America, said NCL has made huge investments in state-of-the-art wastewater treatment equipment. NCL runs interisland cruises on its U.S.-flagged ship Pride of Aloha and is scheduled to receive a second U.S.-flagged ship, Pride of America, this summer.
Kritzman said the cruise industry is subject to federal clean-water laws, is inspected by the Coast Guard quarterly and that tests are conducted in accordance with Coast Guard approved procedures. He has also said liquids are processed to the point that they become pure water before they are discharged, and that sludge is treated, dried and sent to landfills.
Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, said California, Maine and Alaska enacted statutes to regulate the cruise industry. Every major cruise line has had significant pollution-related convictions over the past decade, he said.
Mikulina and other advocates said the Senate bill, which does not set standards for nitrogen or other substances that could contribute to nutrient loading in Hawai'i's waters, should be changed to prohibit all wastes from being discharged into state waters. They support a stricter House bill.
Senate Energy, Environment and International Affairs Committee Chairman J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), declined to adopt the language in the House bill, noting that that measure appears to have stalled in the House. He said the Senate bill is "still a work in progress."
The state and the North West Cruiseship Association have a memorandum of understanding, in which ships agree to refrain from dumping wastewater and chemicals in Hawai'i's coastal waters. The agreement has no provisions for enforcement or penalties.
The Senate bill, approved yesterday by English's committee and the Senate Transportation and Government Operations Committee, regulates cruise ship activities within three miles of shore.
The bill, Senate Bill 1002, would provide standards for the discharge of wastewater and air emissions from cruise ships and commercial passenger vessels in state waters and create criminal penalties of at least $25,000 per day for each violation and/or time in prison.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.
