Demand the cruise industry stop polluting our oceans!

Cruising is the most environmentally harmful way to travel. Ships discharge a toxic cocktail of petroleum products. These pollutants harm wildlife in the areas where ships travel - like endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales.

The cruise industry had a chance to clean up its act when it shut down in 2020. But it put profits ahead of people and the planet -- and now it’s back to its polluting ways!

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To the Biden Administration:

Over the years, cruise companies have polluted our air, water, and climate — much of this pollution is legal, but cruise companies are also responsible for significant illegal pollution. Last year, the cruise industry was thrust into the spotlight for knowingly putting public health at risk from COVID-19. Thousands of people contracted the virus while on cruise ships and hundreds died. The cruise industry has repeatedly made choices that put the health of people and the planet at risk.

The Southern Resident Killer Whales are at serious risk. The cruise industry is dumping its exhaust gas scrubber wastewater into the marine waters in Washington State. This practice is exacerbating the threats to this iconic species. The Southern Resident Killer Whales are sounding the alarm bells, only one in three survive birth. They are starving because of a lack of salmon. They are stressed and hungry, and the cruise industry is only making matters worse.

Scrubbers were supposed to be one of the solutions to clean up the cruise industry’s dirty smokestacks. Instead, these scrubbers merely convert the industry’s dirty air pollution into toxic water pollution. 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. All of our oceans are at risk from the cruise industry’s polluted emissions.

I am calling on you to protect public health and the environment. Commit to addressing the negative impacts the cruise industry has on passengers, crew, communities, oceans, and marine wildlife.

Sincerely,
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