Newspapers in Alaska are reporting that the cruise industry is behind the sudden removal of a highly qualified green water scientist from an advisory council on cruise ship waste water discharge.
In December 2009, the Alaskan Department of Environmental Conservation ("DEC") invited environmental scientist Gershon Cohen to join the state’s cruise ship waste water treatment science panel. The advisory panel has 11 members, with experts in naval architecture, marine engineering and waste water treatment. A representative of the cruise industry sits on the panel as well.
However, the DEC Commissioner, Larry Hartig, disinvited Cohen due to what is described in the newspapers as "corporate influence and pressure" by the cruise industry.
Dr. Cohen is one of the foremost experts in the world on water pollution and clean water technologies. He has a background in biological sciences, with a Masters Degree in Molecular Biology. He also is educated in water policy law, with a Ph.D. in Environmental Policy. Dr. Cohen co-founded the Alaska Clean Water Alliance (ACWA) in 1992, which played a lead role in numerous successful clean-water campaigns. Dr. Cohen founded the Campaign to Safeguard America’s Waters (C-SAW), a project of the Earth Island Institute in 1998, to protect public waters from the discharge of toxic pollutants.
In response to Dr. Cohen’s unceremonious ouster, a group of Democratic legislators have written a letter to Governor Parnell, complaining of the "corporate abuse" by the cruise lines, and requesting that Dr. Cohen be re-instated. In an article entitled "Lawmakers Call on Parnell to Reinstate Dismissed Scientist," Senator Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, is quoted as stating:
"That is not how we should be doing business . . . When we’re talking about positions that deal with sensitive environmental issues, the protection of Alaska waters, the protection of Alaska lands we should not be letting industry dictate who’s on commissions, who’s on panels—absolutely, positively not."
Cruise lines are not happy with Dr. Cohen because, as a clean water advocate, he has spent decades advising Alaska about cruise ship water discharge. In 2006, he was successful in assisting the state of Alaska in adopting an initiative to protect Alaskan waters by requiring the placement of "Ocean Rangers" on cruise ships to monitor discharges. This program has been successful in preventing cruise lines from dumping pollutants into Alaskan waters and catching them when they do. There have been 30 violations of Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards by cruise lines in the last six months alone, mostly by Princess Cruises which repeatedly discharged high levels of ammonium and fecal matter into Alaska’s pristine waters.
Getting Dr. Cohen fired from the panel was pay back by the cruise industry.
The editorials in the Alaskan newspapers unanimously oppose the cruise industry’s behind-the-scenes removal of Dr. Cohen.
In an editorial "Our View: Odd Firing," the Anchorage Daily News reports: "It’s hard to imagine a more qualified applicant. He stands out among Alaska environmentalists for his thorough knowledge of cruise ship wastewater issues . . . Cohen likely would push for the best available technology, period, and as soon as possible."
We have seen the cruise industry maneuver behind the scenes in the past to try and protect its interests.
In 2007 when Congress was studying the problem of shipboard sexual assaults, our client Laurie Dishman was invited by a Congressional sub-committee to testify regarding her horrific experience of being strangled and raped on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. When she reported the crime, the cruise ship doctor gave her a garbage bag and told her to go back to her cabin and collect the evidence herself. The cruise line thereafter refused to provide her with the name of the rapist or even provide her with copies of her own shipboard medical records. When Royal Caribbean realized that Ms. Dishman had contacted her Congresswoman and was going to be testify, it lobbied certain Congressional members to strike Ms. Dishman from the panel. It failed. As a result of Ms. Dishman’s testimony, the House of Representatives passed the "Cruise Safety and Security Act of 2009."
The people of Alaska face a easy choice. Do you want an expert who has the education, training and experience to protect your pristine waters? Or will you let the Miami based cruise industry – which is still polluting your waters – dictate the quality of your air and water by making deals behind closed doors? As concluded by the Anchorage Daily News:
"One of the primary reasons Alaska cruising may well be the world’s cleanest is because activists like Cohen have fought for it. The industry may not welcome him — but that’s no reason for the state to throw him off the panel."
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We have written about cruise ship dumping, cruise waste discharges and air emissions, and the cruise industry’s shenanigans in Alaska in prior articles:
Cruise Ship Bunker Fuel – "Thick, Tarry Sludge"
New Report Details Cruise Industry’s Record of Pollution
Polluting Cruise Industry Files Lawsuit to Avoid Alaskan Tax
Cruise Industry Exaggerates Effect of $50 Alaska Tax and Hides Financial Information
Credits:
Dr. Cohen photograph Conservation Institute
Kayak in Alaskan waters photograph Conservation Institute