Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Evan Dobrowski
Department of Ecology; Water Quality Program
3190 160th Ave SE
Bellevue, WA 98008
Subject: I Support the Proposed 2021 Cruise Ship MOU Amendments
To Mr. Dobrowski:
Thank you for the proposed amendments to the Cruise ...↓
"Our duty to the whole, including to the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wildlife and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose and method."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
The Southern Resident Killer Whales are at serious risk. The cruise industry dumping its scrubber washwater into MOU waters in Washington State is exacerbating the threats to this iconic species. The warning signs for this species are sounding the alarm bells, only one in three survive birth. They are starving with lack of salmon. They are stressed and hungry, and the cruise industry is only making matters worse.
"Every form of life is unique, warranting respect regardless of its worth to man, and, to accord other organisms such recognition, man must be guided by a moral code of action."
-- The World Charter of Nature, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1982
The significant majority of scrubbers used by the cruise industry are open-loop and emit acidic washwater that is warmer than ambient sea water and contains heavy metals, PAHs, suspended particulate matter, and nitrates, all of which are very harmful to the marine environment and the marine creatures that inhabit it. The Port of Seattle has banned the discharge of scrubber washwater while any ship is docked as of January 1, 2021 and I support the implementation of a ban on the discharge of exhaust gas scrubber washwater from all scrubber types, including bleed off or sludges, in MOU waters.
"An unwritten compact between the dead, the living and the unborn requires that we leave the unborn something more than...depleted natural resources."
-- A Washington State Court decision
I also support the amendment proposed by the Department of Ecology to incorporate the Vessel Sewage No Discharge Zone (NDZ) for Puget Sound into the MOU to reflect the Washington state NDZ regulation. The NDZ protects Puget Sound, orcas and other marine mammals, as well as protecting human health from the harmful pollutants in sewage from vessels.
"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Over the years, cruise companies have polluted our air, water, and climate. They have repeatedly made choices that put the health of the planet at risk. Please implement both of the proposed amendments to the cruise MOU for the sake of endangered orcas and our environment.
"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
-- Aldo Leopold
Thank you for your consideration of my comments. Please do NOT add my name to your mailing list. I will learn about future developments on this issue from other sources.
Sincerely,
Christopher Lish
San Rafael, CA
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