US cruise ships dumping sewage

US cruise ships are using Canada as a ‘toilet bowl’ for polluted waste

Lax Canadian regulations create ‘perverse incentive’ for US cruise ships en route to Alaska to discharge toxic mix of chemicals and wastewater off British Columbia, report says

Cruise ship pollution includes large volumes of toxic sewage from toilets, greywater from sinks, showers and laundries, and bilge water – the oily liquid that collects at the lowest part of a ship. By far the largest source of pollution identified in the WWF report was from so-called scrubbers – devices installed to remove exhaust gases such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide, as well as particulates, from the heavy bunker oil used as marine fuel. The scrubbers create an acidic wastewater containing a cocktail of chemicals.

Globally, cruise ships have a patchy record of maintaining environmental regulations, including within Alaska, but the Pacific waters off the coast of British Columbia are particularly polluted. This is due to the many cruise ships but also because Canada’s federal dumping regulations are less stringent than the US laws, according to Michael Bissonnette, a lawyer from WCEL, particularly compared with regulations in Washington and Alaska – the two US states at each end of Canada’s west coast.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/09/us-cruis…

Some Canadians are very upset.
Jaak

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Canada’s federal dumping regulations are less stringent than the US laws


I would point out that none of the cruise ships on this route are “US”. The major cruise company’s’ corporations are foreign based and all of their ships are registered outside the US. That’s why they didn’t get any transportation bailouts during COVID, so the regulations would have to be those applying to foreign carriers.

Jeff

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Lax Canadian regulations create ‘perverse incentive’ for US cruise ships en route to Alaska

The article says:
In Canadian waters, untreated sewage from cruise ships can legally be dumped outside a 12-nautical mile limit under vessel pollution regulations, which can often overlap into critical habitats. Meanwhile, treated sewage – which includes the waste from toilets and greywater from sinks and laundries – can be discharged three nautical miles from shore.

Canadian summary: 12 or more miles you can dump raw sewage; 3 or more miles, treated sewage

What is the US rule?

https://www.epa.gov/vessels-marinas-and-ports/vessel-sewage-…

It is illegal to discharge raw or insufficiently treated sewage within three miles from shore or within a no-discharge zone (where applicable).

This seems like at 4 miles you can dump raw sewage.
I’m not an expert on this, but at first glance it seems Canadian law is more strict.

I may be wrong, but when I was in the Navy and had to determine when to dump sewage I think the rule was 2 miles or greater so I think it has gotten more strict in the past few decades.

Mike

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I would point out that none of the cruise ships on this route are “US”. The major cruise company’s’ corporations are foreign based and all of their ships are registered outside the US. That’s why they didn’t get any transportation bailouts during COVID, so the regulations would have to be those applying to foreign carriers.

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Does that matter? The major cruise lines all over the world are big polluters.

Jaak

I would point out that none of the cruise ships on this route are “US”.

Does that matter?

It means the Guardian headline (and your heading for this thread) was wrong.

DB2

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