InvestigateWest is pleased to successfully launch another new venture this week with ten media partners and Spot.us, the grassroots journalism organization that brings community dollars to journalism that matters.
Thanks so much to our media partners and to members of the community who helped make this important story possible.
Please read our story, send us feedback, and support more community funded journalism by becoming supporting members of InvestigateWest.
InvestigateWest had a good idea for a story that needed doing - taking a hard look at the dollars that a popular form of vacationing pumps into local economies. The irony is that this tourist economy depends on locations like Washington, Alaska and British Columbia, with their pristine waters and lush, green environmentally appealing forests and mountains t0 draw tourists. But if those tourism dollars do damage to those very same environments, is it worth supporting? Those are the questions that InvestigateWest and reporter Lee van der Voo set out to answer.
The story and the answers we found can be found today on our site, on Spot.us, and in the hands of our many media partners that are publishing the story with us, including Seattlepi.com, The Spokesman-Review, The Herald in Everett, The Walla Walla Union Bulletin, The Tyee, Crosscut, MyEdmondsNews, Seattle PostGlobe and others.
We're proud to be associated with such great media partners, and it was super to have so much amazing community support through Spot.us. The pledges ranged from $5 to $100, and most were $20 or less. We had a great time time doing this story, and we think this is a great model. Please continue to support Spot.us and its important grassroot journalism.
Posted by InvestigateWest on 08/17/10
By Katie Farden
InvestigateWest
While the 1,432 passengers aboard Holland America's Zaandam, are enjoying a five-course meal at one of the ship's plush dining venues or unwinding with a hot-stone massage in the vessels' full-service spa, crew are bustling below, sorting out tons of waste and recyclables.
The Zaandam is one of 11 ships operated by six major cruise lines making weekly departures for Alaska from Seattle's Elliot Bay this summer.
Environmental organizations have long charged cruise lines with producing extreme quantities of waste. According to Bluewater Network, which merged with San-Francisco-based Friends of the Earth (FOE) in 2005, even a week-long trip generates serious garbage:
But cruise industry representatives maintain crew aboard their vessels are making cutting-edge efforts to be more sustainable.
Everything Zaandam passengers throw away, said Joe Parks, one of Holland America's environmental officers, is sorted by crew members and stored on the ship until the vessel can offload it at a port.
The sorting room (pictured above) is two floors below the first passenger deck. The room has a full-time staff of 6-8 members who separate glass, paper and cardboard, aluminum cans and trash. The recyclable materials are compressed: boxes are broken down and machines hum and clamor, pressing bucketloads of glass and cans.
The crew stores the waste and recycled materials until the ship docks in Vancouver, Canada, where a recycler picks up the load.
Excess cooking oil is also collected in the sorting room. The crew burns the oil to help power the engines, saving the vessel about $480 a week in fuel costs.
The Zaandam's sewage treatment system is called the Zenon. Through the Zenon, graywater is pumped into a tank and then filtered through a bioreactor, in which bacteria reduce harmful toxins like chlorine, fecal mater and ammonia.
By the end of the process, Parks said, the water quality is close to that of drinking water.
"It's drinkable, but I don't feel like having a taste," said engineer Michael Hall, who works in advanced wastewater processing aboard the Zaandam.
Holland America has fifteen cruise ships in its fleet. Twelve vessels are equipped with advanced wastewater treatment systems, like the Zaandam.
According to Marcie Keever, FOE's Clean Vessels Campaign director, the Zaandam is one of the industry's more environmentally conscious vessels.
"[The Zaandam] is doing a better job in complying with Alaska's strict water laws," she said.
In Alaska, law forbids cruise ships from discharging certain contaminants into state waters. A 2006 voter initiative requires the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation regulate not only fecal matter, but also discharges of ammonia, copper, nickel and zinc.
The Zaandam did not receive any notices of violation in Alaska waters in 2009 or 2008.
Also below the Zaandam's deck, five 12-cylinder diesel engines power five 18-foot generators. The crew has to power up every engine to reach its maximum speed of 23 knots.
Though the Zaandam is not equipped to use shore power--a system in which ships dock, turn off their engines and plug in to generators at a city's port to reduce engine emissions--the vessel is outfited with the cruise industry's first 1.5 million dollar saltwater scrubber.
According to Holland America, scrubing technology has long been used to reduce sulfer dioxide emissions at oil and coal power plants. The scrubber on the Zaandam--which the EPA provided $300,000 to help fund--combines the calcium carbonate in saltwater in a chemical reaction with engine gasses to reduce the ship's emissions.
The saltwater scrubber, installed on the Zaandam in 2007, is still in a pilot phase. According to Holland America, the technology is expected to reduce the vessel's sulfer dioxide emissions by 95 percent.
Keever points out, however, that the scrubber, which uses 360 tons of seawater per hour, may create another pollutant the ship would have to deal with.
"I don't know how successful or not that technology has been on the air quality side," she said. "But it does produce sludge that's highly acidic. It could be a problem having to dispose of that."
Various air and water treatments produce sludge, which is a semi-solid residue. This waste can sometimes be hazardous, according to the EPA.
"People don't realize how many waste streams there are aboard cruise ships," Keever said.
Oily bilge water is pollutant produced directly from the ship's engines. A mixture of water and leaked oil from auxiliary engines boilers and evaporators, oily bilge water threatens marine life and coastal habitats when it enters the ocean, according to environmental group Oceana.
According to a 2008 EPA report, oily bilge water is the most widespread form of cruise ship pollution.
One Parks' responsibilities as the ship's environmental officer is keeping the concentration of oil in the bilge water the Zaandam leaks into the ocean to a minimum. Federal law requires cruise vessels release only liquids with an oil concentration of 15ppm or lower.
"We're usually way below that," said Parks of the concentration of water the Zaandam pumps into the sea.
He adds that the cruise industry as a whole has made strides to be more environmentally conscious in recent decades.
"You don't hear about cruise lines doing things they used to do 20 or 30 years ago, like crew dumping big cans of trash overboard, he said. "We all have standards now."
Posted by InvestigateWest on 06/16/10By Katie Farden
InvestigateWest
A long line of yellow taxicabs at Pier 91's Smith Cove Cruise Terminal greeted hoards of weary cruise ship passengers today as they disembarked the Carnival Spirit, the largest cruise ship docking weekly in Elliot Bay this summer.
Some Carnival customers said they noticed the Spirit's crew making efforts to decrease water consumption and make recycling available to guests aboard the 2,124-passenger vessel.
"They always talk about water conservation, but I think this is really the first time I've heard about recycling," said Brian Burk, a Florida resident who has gone on five previous cruises.
"We saw recycling on all the decks," said Jennifer Ditscheit, who came to the Pacific Northwest cruise from Wisconsin. "And the crew reminded us."
Passenger Joellen Gianfrancisco added that signs posted in guests' staterooms gave passengers a visual reminder to limit their personal water consumption and reuse towels a few times before requesting replacements.
She echoed Ditscheit's on the accessibility of recycling aboard the Spirit, which has 1,028 staterooms on 13 passenger decks.
"Recycling, I think they did it all,"" Gianfrancisco said.
Others noted the Spirit limited the amount of single-use dining products used at sea.
"One thing I noticed was that (the ship) didn't have any paper towels," said Nora Sheetz, a California resident. "No disposable cups either. It seamed like [the crew] was reusing everything. They were very good about that."
The Carnival Spirit has 16 bars and lounges, as well as three full-service restaurants.
Nora Sheetz's husband, Don Sheetz, said the first day aboard the Spirit, crew members spoke to passengers about how guests could conserve water by taking short showers and turning the facet in their staterooms off while brushing teeth.
The crew also briefed guests on the importance of not throwing anything overboard, he said.
Today's travelers were guests on the second of Carnival's 17 seven-day, round-trip Alaska voyages this season. This is the fist year Carnival has offered trips from Washington to Alaska.
The Spirit makes its last stop in the Emerald City September 7. Seattle's cruise season ends October 1.
Posted by InvestigateWest on 06/01/10By Katie Farden
InvestigateWest
Grades are in and several cruise ship lines that homeport in Seattle—including Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l and Carnival Cruise Lines — didn’t even make Cs in sustainability, according to an environmental group rating the cruise ship companies.
Friends of the Earth, a national San Francisco-based environmental organization, released its Cruise Ship Environmental Report Card suggesting several cruise lines have a sub-par commitment to ocean water and air quality.
Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) maintains the report card — which graded 13 companies on their sewage treatment systems, their efforts to reduce air pollution, their compliance with state water laws and accessibility of their environmental information — casts an unfair light on the industry.
“For the second year in a row, we’ve found that cruise lines are doing less than they can to limit the environmental impacts of their ships,” FOE's Clean Vessels Campaign director Marcie Keever, said Wednesday in a press release. “From ending the use of dirty fuel that pollutes the air to stopping the disgusting practice of dumping sewage and other waste into the sea, it’s time for the cruise industry to clean up its act.”
In a statement Tuesday, Florida-based CLIA defended its member companies:
“It is unfortunate that instead of contributing to a meaningful scientific dialogue about protecting our oceans, FOE continues to use innuendo and misstate the facts to advance its agenda,” the association said. “This ‘report card’ is not based on science, law, or the facts, and like its last one, is rooted in FOE’s own arbitrary and flawed criteria.”
The worst environmental offender this year, FOE reports, is Crystal Cruises, a 22-year-old company which wasn't on the first report card issued in 2009. Crystal received an overall grade of an F, scoring low in environmental impact categories across the board.
FOE recognized Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Lines — two lines that send vessels to Seattle — as the cruise lines most attentive to environmental standards. Both companies earned a B- for their overall sustainability grades.
Norwegian said earlier this month that it would refrain from discharging treated wastewater while at Pier 66 in Elliot Bay, a practice that all other cruise ships docking in Seattle had already quit in 2009. The move came after pressure from several environmental groups, including FOE, which urged Norwegian to revise its discharge practices.
While Holland America tied Norwegian for first place in sustainable practices, they didn’t set any personal records in 2010. Because of lower marks in the sewage treatment, the company’s score slid from the B it received last year.
Princess Cruises, which docks at Seattle’s Pier 91 Smith Cove Cruise Terminal also saw its grade drop, from a B- to a C+, in 2010. According to the FOE release, several documented instances of the line's vessels violating Alaska’s water pollution laws in 2009 hurt Princess’ grade.
This year’s most improved award goes to Disney Cruise Line, which rose from an F in 2009 a to a C- in 2010. Disney scored higher this year, FOE said, because the line installed an advanced wastewater treatment system.
Posted by InvestigateWest on 05/20/10
By Lee van der Voo
InvestigateWest
Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line, responding to pressure from environmental groups and the Port of Seattle, will not discharge wastewater while docked in Seattle's Elliott Bay for the 2010 cruise season, according to company officials and documents released by the port.
Two Norwegian cruise ships currently call Seattle home. The Norwegian Star and the Norwegian Pearl both run seven-day cruises to Alaska from the Bell Street Pier at 2225 Alaskan Way. The Star kicked off its season last week, while the Pearl arrived Saturday..
Until this year, both ships discharged treated wastewater from toilets, showers, kitchens, laundries and other on-board water systems into the Puget Sound while docked at Bell Street Pier. The wastewater is treated aboard the ship and is legal to release in Washington waters under a voluntary agreement between the Northwest CruiseShip Association, the Port of Seattle and Washington Department of Ecology.
Norwegian Cruise Line, however, was the only cruise line operating in Seattle in 2009 that continued to release wastewater into the Puget Sound. Six other cruise lines opted to store treated wastewater on board ships instead, then release it in the ocean outside Washington.
In a new plan approved by the Washington Department of Ecology May 4, Norwegian's ships will discharge wastewater at a distance of at least one nautical mile from the docks while moving at a speed of at least six knots. The docks are 140 miles from the ocean, where other cruise lines now discharge their waste.
Environmental groups are reviewing the plan and have not yet offered comment on whether they approve. They have previously criticized wastewater releases in Puget Sound, saying such releases are not well diluted by currents there. They say even after treatment wastewater can contain toxins harmful to nearby recreation.
In an effort led by Friends of the Earth, seven environmental groups drafted letters to port officials in April, asking for a ban on discharges from ships docked at the port's two piers, which include the Bell Street Pier and also Pier 91 at 2001 W. Garfield Street.
In the letters, the groups cited concerns about high levels of ammonia and, in particular, problems with pH and fecal coliform bacteria from Norwegian Cruise Line last year in Alaska. They noted a ban would better conditions for "beach goers, kite boarders, paddlers, and scuba divers in Elliott Bay and the rest of Puget Sound" and would protect human health from problems associated with "sick ships," or ships with norovirus or other human pathogens on board.
Other signers of the letters included the Surfrider Foundation, Environment Washington, Friends of the San Juans, Olympic Environmental Council, People For Puget Sound and the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Randall Fiebrandt, director of environmental operations for Norwegian Cruise Line, said Norwegian uses top-of-the-line wastewater treatment systems on board its ships, arguably better than those used on land. But the cruise line opted to reverse course after being asked to do so by port officials, Fiebrandt said. The request followed the pressure from environmental groups, he said.
"We have made an agreement at this point in time with the Port of Seattle to not to go forward with in-berth discharges," said Fiebrandt.
Cruising season kicks off Monday in Seattle and environmental groups are asking commissioners at the Port of Seattle to go green with their pre-season agenda.
On the table is a potential ban on the discharge of treated wastewater from cruise ships while in port. Most ships only release the treated wastewater in federal and international waters miles off of Seattle's shore, but those who opt to release waste locally often do so while docked. These ships are subject to vessel inspection, toxicity tests and must open their books to the Washington Department of Ecology, showing
where and when they release wastewater. But that wastewater is allowed to flow freely from boats that comply, sometimes while in port downtown and a short distance from recreational beaches.
In a letter to port officials April 14, the Surfrider Foundation in Washington State asked port officials to consider a ban on discharge from in-port ships to better conditions for "beach goers, kite boarders, paddlers, and scuba divers in Elliott Bay and the rest of Puget Sound."
Six other environmental groups echoed that request in a letter yesterday, including Environment Washington, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the San Juans, Olympic Environmental Council, People For Puget Sound and the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club.
A letter from the coalition of environmental groups dated April 21 notes that only one cruise line out of seven continues to discharge the treated wastewater, while the other six hold their treated wastes until they are outside of waters protected by an earlier agreement. This shows it is possible to do so, the coalition members contend.
Fred Felleman of Friends of the Earth said environmental groups don't want ships to have to shut down their engines in port - something operators say poses problems. Felleman said the groups just need to store their wastewater in on-board tanks until they are safely out to sea.
"It's not like we're saying turn it off. We're saying cross your legs," Felleman said.
No word yet on whether port officials will consider the proposed ban before the Amsterdam rolls into port next week. We'd like to point out that Amsterdam is owned by the Holland-America Line, one of the lines that does not discharge in port.
by Katie Farden of Investigate West.
Before the end of the month, a 780-foot visitor will arrive at Pier 66. And Holland America’s ms Amsterdam is just the first of many—more than 200 other cruise vessels will dock in Seattle this spring and summer.
Cruise ship season — which brings a sharply growing number of giant vessels like the ms Amsterdam to Puget Sound each year — is just around the corner.
“We’ve been talking about cruise ships for the past 10 years, really because of the significant expansion in our waters” said Marcie Keever, a representative from national environmental organization Friends of the Earth (FOE). “We have seen an explosion of cruise ships. They really are small cities.”
The number of cruise ships docking in Seattle each year has increased from 6 vessels carrying 6,615 passengers in 1999 to 218 vessels with 875,433 passengers in 2009. The Port of Seattle estimates the city will see five more ships this year, carrying a total of 858,00 passengers. The ships will dock at either Pier 66 or Pier 91, which opened to cruise ships last year.
And as the number of vacationers relaxing on cruise ships climbs each year, so does the volume of air and water pollution that cruise lines produce, Keever said.
Federal law prohibits cruise ships from dumping untreated sewage within three miles from shore. International law mandates cruise ships wait until they’re 12 miles out to discharge waste. Once a vessel passes sails past the marker, however, no laws prevent them from dumping.
“It’s one of the least regulated industries in the world,” Keever said, noting that while FOE has seen the cruise ship industry take some steps towards cleaning up their act over the past five years, few federal or international standards hold the industry accountable.
YOU CAN READ MORE AT INVESTIGATE WEST
You can support this investigation going forward. Consider making a small contribution that will help Investigate West track the impact of cruise liners on the Seattle area.
Posted by InvestigateWest on 04/14/10
