O"Rourke

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Abstract

O'Rourke, Morgan. “Cruise Line Forced to Address Pollution,” Risk Management. 2004, 51:7 (July), 8

This article discusses the decision of Royal Caribbean cruise lines to begin installing advanced water purification equipment on its entire fleet to properly clean the large daily amounts of sewage and waste each ship creates. This is in response to an aggressive campaign led by the environmental advocate Oceana. This decision marks a renewed environmental commitment by the company, which in 1999 was fined $27 million by the

U.S.

government for illegally dumping waste oil and hazardous chemicals in coastal waters and covering up the crime. Aside from Royal Caribbean, nearly $50 million in fines have been handed out to various cruise lines since 1993 for illegal dumping, including Carnival cruise lines. Given that many cruise lines are based in other countries and travel in international waters, it is sometimes difficult to monitor and police their activities with regard to pollution, especially since cruise ships are exempt from the requirements of the Clean Water Act, which is designed to cover land-based operations. But the U.S. Congress has remained diligent in pursuing cruise ship polluters. One provision of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships established a bounty for those providing information leading to the conviction of illegal dumping. The U.S. Congress has also introduced the Clean Cruise Ships Act of 2004 to make up for the deficiencies of the Clean Water Act.