Celebrity Cruise Lines
Dumping Off Washington State And British Columbia Shore
U.S $100,000 Fine Challenged Dec 15, 2006
Celebrity Cruises Inc. is challenging a Washington state Department of Ecology $100,000 state fine for the release of more than half a million gallons of untreated wastewater into Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, saying three of the 10 discharges actually occurred in Canadian waters, and they got mixed up on the distance from shore they could legally discharged the hazardous waste.
That news has Canadians enraged, that somehow this makes everything alright as far as Celebrity is concerned. Celebrity's director of environmental programs, Rich Pruitt, said if the discharges had occurred in Canadian waters, they would have been perfectly legal. "If they had all been in Canadian territorial waters, then they would have complied with Canadian guidelines," Pruitt said.
"It's quite appalling," said Jennifer Lash, executive director of the Living Oceans Society. "Not only that, it's embarrassing. To think that in the U.S. they've put regulations into place to deal with this, and in Canada they've failed to. It's completely irresponsible of Transport Canada."
At issue are 10 discharges made by the cruise ship Mercury over nine days in September and October 2005.
The more than 542,000 gallons consisted of grey water which is untreated sink, shower and laundry water, and black water which is treated sewage with a Coast Guard-certified marine sanitation device. The treated sewage has high levels of fecal coliform bacteria, which can contaminate shellfish beds. Celebrity plans to install an advanced wastewater purification system on the Mercury with an estimated cost of $4 million.
The U.S. - Canadian border runs through the middle of the strait, which separates Washington's Olympic Peninsula from British Columbia's Vancouver Island. The strait varies from about 11 to 15 miles wide.
State inspectors learned of the discharges this fall during an on-board inspection of the vessel allowed under a 2004 voluntary agreement involving the state, the Port of Seattle and the NorthWest CruiseShip Association.
Under the cruise-line pact, only vessels with advanced treatment systems certified by Ecology can discharge wastewater, and only when they are a mile from shore and under way at a speed of at least 6 knots. Celebrity's Mercury violated those conditions.
State law bars release of untreated wastewater into state waters by anyone. International standards apply more than 3 miles off the state's outer coast.
