EPA: Cruise Ship Sewage Discharge Banned

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal environmental regulators have given final approval to a rule that bans cruise ships and large cargo vessels from releasing sewage into the ocean within three miles of California's coast.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that the new rule will strengthen existing state law which bans cruise ships from releasing a host of toxic pollutants into coastal waters.

EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld said the rule bans all sewage discharges, treated or not, along California's 1,624-mile coast and around major islands.

Blumenfeld said the "no discharge zone" will prevent more than 20 million gallons of vessel sewage from entering the state's coastal waters.

The rules will cover cruise liners, which can hold 6,000 people at a time, and cargo vessels of 300 gross tons or more.

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Comments

[ProfessorTypeExPat]

10:56 AM on 02/13/2012

Yeah, because a 3 mile limit is absolute. Water is a solid and does not flow, and there are no currents. Cruise ships are horrible polluters in many ways. They discharge raw and treated sewage, they dump RAW trash (bags of batteries, plastics, medical refuse, food trash, etc etc) by the ton into the waters outside the 3 mile range or whatever it is (20?). I'm sick and tired of the "If you don't see a bear s--t in the woods, does it really s--t?" mentality. If you don't see us dump TONS and tons of this stuff, are we really dumping it? The solution to pollution is NOT dilution or hiding it out at sea. If you know someone that takes cruises INFORM them what to look for so they can be an informed consumer. Don't be afraid to give them a hard time, even if they are old. I do.

[Bullitt08]

09:10 AM on 02/13/2012

Now what about emissions standards for all vessels operating within the territorial waters?

Huge ships emit tremendous quantities of air pollution also.

There is no reason that ships cannot be held to the same standards as heavy trucks, locomotives, etc.

Also, when in port, large ships must be required to shutdown their diesel engines and boilers, and use shore power.

[willowtree3]

07:40 AM on 02/13/2012

It should be the rule for all waters, not just within a certain range.

[brokerthanu]

10:54 PM on 02/12/2012

How can this even be legal at all? It's like crapping in someone's living room.

[JScott]

09:45 AM on 02/12/2012

Yup but what about in the international waters-guess they can do anything they want-humans are pretty stupid with that.

[Genders]

10:46 PM on 02/11/2012

Hard to believe it was ever legal.

[Irantergosum]

09:29 PM on 02/11/2012

"bans cruise ships and large cargo vessels from releasing sewage into the ocean within three miles of California's coast?? Really? Did the environmental regulators realize there are things like tides and currents that can bring that crap ashore in less than one day?

"Oh boy, oh boy", the ship's captain thinks. "I can just store up a couple of more days garbage and sewage and then pump tons more of it as long as it is outside of three miles from land."

Also, what are the environmental regulators going to when the continent-size debris field from the Fukushima, Japan tsunami reaches the west coast of the U.S.? Fine the Japanese government?

[pgrlights]

06:11 PM on 02/11/2012

They need mini sewage treatment plants on board.

[rjackson2a]

07:23 PM on 02/11/2012

They have them. They are refered to as MSD's. The discharge of raw sewage from vessels within the three mile limit had been in place since 1973. All this new regulation does is to say they now can not discharge sewage after treatment. Even though most of these MSD's do a better job of cleaning up the sewage than the municiple systems that are discharging into the same waters on a much larger scale.

[kareemachan]

02:09 PM on 02/11/2012

Just one more reason I do not like cruise ships. When they are in port in Seattle, they run their diesel engines non-stop, polluting our air.

[adamofmichigan]

01:05 PM on 02/11/2012

Oh no! The lobsters, crabs, and shrimp are going to starve to death.

[Vera Gottlieb]

12:19 PM on 02/11/2012

The $64thousand question being: who is going to enforce it? How? This regulation should be in place for all ships all over the world. We can send a robot to Mars but we can't (or don't want!?) keep our home clean.

[Gregory Hinton]

11:51 AM on 02/11/2012

republicans will be upset about this.

[kareemachan]

02:09 PM on 02/11/2012

Those pesky regulations....

[rjackson2a]

07:24 PM on 02/11/2012

Why? You do know that it was a republican president in the white house when the US originally signed on to MARPOL don't you?

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

09:21 PM on 02/12/2012

and Nixon created the EPA...which almost every single current member of the GOP would be willing to do away with. The Republican Party isn't what it used to be and is now nothing but legislators willfully selling their souls to protect the interest with the deepest pockets.

[Fredricka Devega Waring]

11:31 AM on 02/11/2012

Anyone ever read "The Silent Spring", By Rachael Carson?

[Rooftop Voter]

07:27 AM on 02/11/2012

Blumenfeld said the "no discharge zone" will prevent more than 20 million gallons of vessel sewage from entering the state's coastal waters.

Who actually goes out of their way to measure the actual gallonage of this (or who would want to?) Sounds like a crappy job and another opportunity for Mike Rowe coming up.

[Genders]

10:48 PM on 02/11/2012

It's pretty easy to estimate based on the number of people.

[svvalkyrie]

07:10 AM on 02/11/2012

And meanwhile, the recreational boater has been being ticketed, fined and what?