teaser

Opinion: If you see something, say something

Together we can fight to preserve this pristine place we live.

  • By Karen Severson
  • Tuesday, August 2, 2022 3:19pm
  • Opinion

To all boaters on the water whether for commercial or recreation, if you see cruise ship discharge of any kind report it to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.

Summer 2022, the cruise industry is bigger than ever. They are offering incredible deals for tourists to visit for that once in a lifetime Alaskan adventure, and who can blame them.

However, the cruise industry has decades of violations and fines for illegal behavior. It is up to us to be aware and hold them accountable for illegal discharge pollution to our water ways.

The governor vetoed funding for the Ocean Ranger program in 2019. Without these highly qualified Ocean Rangers on board, acting as watchdogs, the ships are free to cut corners and dump their waste in our waters whenever and wherever they can get away with it.

Many ships use cheap bunker crude to cut costs and then flush it directly into our ocean with open loop exhaust scrubbers, negatively impacting our fish and wildlife.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Southeast Alaska started its own cruise ship monitoring program this July. The Park Service would prefer that the state program be re-established, calling it an essential component to the park’s oversight of cruise ship concessions contracts.

With the program still in state law our hope is the Legislature will vote to bring back these Ocean Rangers, to be on all ships, all of the time.

We must all be watchful to keep these mega ships from polluting our beautiful state, for the future of all Alaskans who call this place home and for those who love to visit it.

Call the National Response Center. Give them a description of what you saw, the latitude and longitude if you have it, or the close demographical area where you saw it. Also what ship you think it might have come from.

Together we can fight to preserve this pristine place we live.

• Karen Severson resides in Petersburg. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.

More in Opinion

Web
Have something to say?

Here’s how to add your voice to the conversation.

A ninth grader places her cellphone in to a phone holder as she enters class at Delta High School on Feb. 23 in Delta, Utah. Most schools have policies regulating student cellphone use at school. But the reality is kids don’t always follow the rules and schools enforce them sporadically. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Opinion: The problem education funding and reforms can’t fix

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is right. Increasing the Base Student Allocation funding for… Continue reading

(Juneau Emire file photo)
Opinion: Some state lawmakers need to embrace reality, not PFD political theater

It was a polar-opposite week in the Legislature. While the Senate Finance… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks in March of 2023 in support of an agreement between the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and Goldbelt Inc. to pursue engineering and design services to determine whether it’s feasible to build a new ferry terminal facility in Juneau at Cascade Point. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Cascade Point, AMHOB, and DOT’s stonewalling strategy

On Tuesday a joint session of the Legislature is scheduled to hold… Continue reading

(City and Borough of Juneau photo)
Opinion: Juneau school board veers off-course

Last week’s Juneau School District (JSD) Board of Education meeting, expected to… Continue reading

Deedie Sorensen is president of the Juneau Board of Education. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
My Turn: Powers and duties as a member of the Juneau Board of Education

“The Board of Education’s primary goal is to provide each student with… Continue reading

Wanda Culp (left) speaks during a rally at the Alaska State Capitol on Saturday, June 22, 2019. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Why Alaska Natives like me oppose the landless bill

The 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) has never addressed Native… Continue reading

Most Read