Cruise group ends anti-pollution agreement

The Associated Press and The Maui News
Saturday, November 19, 2005

HONOLULU – A cruise industry group says it is ending an agreement with the state that limits ships' air and water emissions, but the state's biggest cruise operator says it still will follow exactly the same anti-pollution practices.

Environmental groups fear standards will loosen because laws covering emissions are less stringent than the terms of the 2002 agreement signed between Hawaii and the industry, and do not cover all wastewater from cruise ships.

In a letter to Gov. Linda Lingle dated Sept. 12, North West CruiseShip Association President John Hansen said a new state law regulating cruise ship emissions makes the 2002 memorandum of understanding unnecessary. He said the association would be ending the agreement at the start of 2006 "in order to avoid any ambiguity and operational confusion.''

Robert Kritzman, executive vice president and managing director for the islands' largest cruise operator – NCL America – and an association member, said the association's decision will change nothing for his company.

The old agreement provides more environmental protection than the new state law, he said.

"We always supported the (agreement) because it went further than the jurisdiction of the state,'' he said.

The association terminated the agreement because there are now both federal and state laws in place, "and you simply can't work with three, four, five different regulatory schemes,'' Kritzman said.

Environmentalists, who have long pushed for enforceable state regulations rather than a voluntary agreement, are concerned about the change.

The 2002 agreement covers more types of wastewater than the law, including gray water – the runoff from dishwashers and sinks. The agreement also extended the anti-pollution measures to areas of the ocean beyond the three-mile limit where the state's jurisdiction ends.

"This is probably the worst of both worlds because now we don't have even a memorandum of understanding nor do we have a very strong law to protect coastal water,'' said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter.

The state law, enacted as Act 221, bars discharge of untreated sewage within state waters, which is the ocean within three miles of the coasts of each island. But it allows discharge of wastewater – sewage that doesn't come from toilets such as kitchen wash water or water held in ballast tanks – if a vessel is traveling at least six knots (7 mph) and is more than one nautical mile from a shoreline.

Any one party can withdraw from the 2002 agreement after providing 90 days' notice, said Tom Arizumi, chief of the state Department of Health's environmental management division.

"We had hoped the (agreement) would continue to be in effect because it does cover more area than the statute,'' he said.

Act 221 also provides that voluntary agreements with operators of commercial passenger vessels "that exceed the requirements established by law" could continue.

Walter Ritte, who led protests against cruise ships docking off Molokai three years ago, put the blame on the state.

"The state law is weaker; why blame the cruise ship industry?" he said. "If they see the weaker law, they're going to take it. The state needs to get on the ball and make stricter laws to protect the ocean. Who is the state protecting? Big business or the waters of Hawaii?"

State Sen. J. Kalani English said federal laws prevent the state from legally requiring certain conditions that the voluntary agreement was able to cover.

"The larger issue is jurisdictional," he said. "All that we could legislate is what we did."

English said he wanted to "congratulate" NCL officials for saying they will continue to honor the provisions of the voluntary agreement even after it's terminated. He said he believed NCL had the best environmental standards of any cruise ship operation.

"I'm more concerned about the other companies coming in here," said English, adding that he will review the law and see if it can be tightened up in the upcoming session.

Hansen said the association is ending the agreement because it doesn't work to have two sets of rules.

"We respect the legislation and that's what will prevail,'' he said. "The statute carries more weight, and the statute is legally enforceable. And it will take priority over any other agreement.''

Arizumi said a benefit of the law is that it allows enforcement with set fines, which the department is hoping to define by the end of July.

"We're just trying to see how well that statute works in ensuing years and would recommend changes if we find any deficiencies in the law,'' he said.

Copyright © 2005 The Maui News.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=14400

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