In commemoration of "Earth Day" last week, the cruise industry’s trade organization, the Cruise Line International Organization ("CLIA"), issued a PR statement praising itself for being a champion of protecting the environment.
The PR statement was entitled "Cruise Industry Continues to Build on Successful Track Record as Environmental Stewards of the Seas They Sail
The Telegraph in the U.K. has an interesting article this weekend – "Cruise Ships Could Be Shut Out of Venice Over Erosion Fears."
The article points out that environmentalists and heritage groups have long complained that mammoth cruise ships plow through the shallow Venetian lagoon and damage the fragile canal banks, wooden piles and mud
This past month has seen a number of incredible stories about the cruise industry.
TOXIC CRUISE WATER? The Sunday Times in London published a blockbuster article about a British paint inspector, Brian Bradford, who was kicked off a NCL cruise ship after complaining about health risks which may be posed to cruise passengers and crew
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While the city of Charleston South Carolina is resisting the expansion of the cruise industry into its city, the southernmost city of the U.S. may be heading in the other direction. Key West appears to be poised to accommodate bigger and more cruise ships, including the new mega ships the Allure and Oasis of the Seas.
The KeyNoter newspaper
Hawaii News Now is reporting today that an environmental group in Hawaii has located an illegal dumping site.
Much of the garbage and large plastic bags reportedly came from the Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America cruise ship, including "paperwork, documents, and dozens of cabin cards with the names of passengers and the dates they sailed."
The Hawaii
Last week a number of news organizations reported on the story about the release of hydrogen sulfide aboard the Monarch of the Seas in 2005 which killed three crewmembers, injured at least nineteen other ship employees and threatened the health of thousands of cruise passengers.
We blogged about this disastrous event last week in our article "Royal Caribbean Demonstrated "Gross Indifference" to Passengers’ Lives." Our
A local Charleston South Carolina television station (WCIV ABC-4) is reporting that the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charleston is preparing to file a lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines to make the cruise line subject to city and state regulations.
The lawsuit is the latest development in the debate about the suitability of cruise ships in this quaint old southern
Last week I was reading the New York Times on line when I ran across an interesting article “Venice Tourist Ships Rattle Windows and Nerves” by Elisabetta Povoledo.
The article raises the question of the environmental impact of massive cruise ships sailing into the passenger terminal at the end of the Giudecca Canal,
This article in the Sun-Sentinel describes how Carnival Cruise Lines has filed a lawsuit against BP, Transocean and Halliburton over the Gulf oil spill. They claim the spill got their ships dirty, added to cleaning expenses, drove passengers away and cost them revenue.
There’s something insidiously ironic about one of the cruise lines biggest polluters suing
Yesterday the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state of California can regulate the shipping and cruise industries and require vessels that call on the state’s ports to use cleaner fuel.
One of the problems with the cruise industry is that cruise ship use diesel and nasty bunker fuels which spew toxic particulate matter into the air.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the Obama administration will enforce a California law designed to prohibit cruise ships from dumping any kind of sewage — even highly filtered wastewater — along California’s coast out to three miles from shore.
California will now have among the strictest laws in the nation limiting pollution from large ships.
The Vancouver Sun published a provocative headline this weekend entitled "B.C. Waters a Toilet Bowl of Raw Sewage."
It caught my attention after my family just returned from a vacation from British Columbia, where my kids surfed and we went whale watching in the B.C. waters.
Environmentalists’ believe that waters off British Columbia in Canada are the
Canada’s Globe and Mail reports today that the cruise industry is lobbying Canada lawmakers to try and avoid the clean air regulations passed two months ago by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
As we reported in April, Over Cruise Industry’s Objection, IMO Creates Air Pollution Buffer Around U.S. and Canada. The IMO voted to enact regulations requiring
Continuing with Cruise Law News’ Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise, we reach reason number 9 not to cruise:
Bunker Fuel – Nasty Tar Sludge!
This reason is personal to me.
My Dad is an oil man. In the 1960’s we lived in Texas and Oklahoma as kids when my Dad worked for seismic
Preparation for a trial delayed our "Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise." But here we go again with the reasons why you should think twice before spending your hard earned vacation dollars on a family cruise. Here’s reason no. 8:
BLACKWATER!
That nasty raw sewage which cruise lines can freely dump – completely untreated – just twelve miles from shore. Yes
AOL Travel has an interesting article today about the effect of cruising on the quaint city of Charleston, South Carolina. The article is entitled "Are Cruises Ruining the World?" The article is very informative and is worth reading.
We have discussed the effects of cruise pollution on South Carolina in an prior article – "
The Juneau Empire reports that Alaska just weakened its wastewater regulations at the cruise industry’s request. Cruise ships are now permitted to dump greater amount of ammonia (from fecal matter), copper, nickel and zinc in Alaska’s pristine waters.
The newspaper reports that the cruise industry is "pleased" and and "appreciates" the new wastewater discharge rules.
The cruise
Today – Earth Day – is special because our maritime law firm works in a specialized area of the law. Everything we handle is related to the world’s oceans and seas. Earlier today, our superstar legal intern, Caitlin Burke, wrote an excellent article entitled Earth Day – Spotlight on Cruising – A Dirty Business.
We know that
