Anonymous
(stock photo)
By Martha S.
New reports are coming out detailing how the Carnival Corporation was previously convicted of dumping oily waste into the ocean and lying about it to regulators, and now they’ve continued to dump waste in ports and waters close to shores around the world.
The Miami Herald investigated this stating, “[Carnival] ships illegally discharged more than a half-million gallons of treated sewage, gray water, oil and food waste, and burned heavy fuel oil in ports and waters close to shores around the world, according to a court-appointed monitor.”
It went on to state, “the findings are part of a pattern of illegal behavior during Carnival Corp.’s first of five years on probation that led U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz to publish a previously confidential report last week. In the 205-page report, the monitor overseeing Carnival Corp.’s environmental compliance flagged more than 800 incidents from April 2017 to April 2018.”
The entire article is very thorough and details the cruise liner’s variety of misdeeds.
The Carnival Corporation owns Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Seabourn. All three of these cruise lines have docked off the Santa Barbara coast, according to the City of Santa Barbara’s website.
From September 2018 through April 2019, 11 of the 15 ships that have visited our local waters are owned by the Carnival Corporation.
Will local leaders ban the Carnival Corporation from docking off our coast since they’ve proven to dump waste?
1). @Oops: I think if a State Street business is worthy of patronage and purchases, the reliance on cruise ship guests would certainly not be necessary to keep them in business. Santa Barbara is a tourist town, we see enough visitors who come her to vacation, (not just to dock for a few hours or a day), willing and ready to spend big $ on food and “chachkies”. I’ve spent time checking every retailer out on State Street and I’m sorry to say, I was not impressed.
2). The Oceans sustain all life on Earth. An unhealthy ocean has detrimental consequences. I don’t care which side anyone is one, be it anti global warming, pro green peace, etc… the fact is climate change is real, our oceans are in a critical state of deterioration, and the aquatic life is proven to be polluted – overridden in fact- by plastics and pollutants humans have caused. Side where you will regarding the potential health effects, or if climate change is caused by global warming or if global warming is even real or not, and if the rise of ocean levels is a genuine threat. Heck, who’s to say this isn’t just the path of Earth’s progression no matter what we As humans do.
These points, are NOT – or rather, should NOT, be the point of all the concern and legalities. Yes, they are valid arguments and circumstantial evidence prompts real crisis and a need for intervention, but none of these are the crux.
What should be, and truly is, the underlying principal governing the solution here, is that this world, this beautiful earth we call home, is a global universal gift each of us are given to cherish and protect, to honor and respect. Participation is not voluntary. One either does or does not do the right thing, but either choice significantly affects us all.
Have we no sense of pride? Obviously, the ones giving the orders at companies which continue to pollute like Carnival – and furthermore the employees who like lemmings go along w/their disregard for the law – do not have such virtues within them.
We can protest and march and solicit the government with our pleas for environmental protection and change, (as I do!), but people nothing is going to change until each and every one of us takes a stand that is PRO Earth. Either you like our planet or you don’t. Liking our planet means much more than being green. It means being friendly to our fellow mankind, it means inspiring each other to be better humans, it means acting in every aspect of our lives with thoughtfulness. Look up the word thoughtfulness – the power to solve all of our problems in these times is within this word.
3). To all those who needed a law banning litter in the first place; because you never knew that is was appropriate to throw your garbage out the window, on the ground, or in this case off the boat; Your actions show those of us who know better, use waste cans, and follow proper procedures to dispose of waste and toxins, that you really don’t like Earth and you really don’t care if life here is sustained or if our water is unsafe to drink, etc.
So take a hike! Find somewhere better if Earth isn’t good enough for you. Good riddance!
To the rest of us, who do like living on this planet, the old cliche is true – it begins with you. It is up to each and every one of us to take every step we can to stop this sort of nonsense. If your boss orders you to dump toxins and it even seems questionable, it probably isn’t legal. Read the laws governing the job you’re being paid to do. A responsible person will take actions to live a responsible life. When slavery ended, so did the days of being ordered to do things without the right or ability to choose not to.
Take a stand for crying out loud! Show some courage, be a huMAN. Grow some, well …you know where I’m going with that.
It’s real simple, your thoughts on all the negative aspects of the ongoing environmental change simply breed more negativity. Adopt an attitude like Louis Armstrong – wake up every day singing his song “What A Wonderful World”. Look around you people, wake up! Start living like this world is wonderful, because it truly is. All actions are governed by thoughts. Live with a grateful mind and all your actions will reflect the same way.
Arguments about this sort of matter would quickly become moot, and derived of practical significance, because they simply would not be tolerated.
In this case specifically, if Santa Barbara is willing to spend tax payers money on harbor patrol to extend their duties to babysitting our waters while a company, with 800 violations in one year while on probation, is welcomed to to dock here, is nothing short of absurd. If we elect officials who allow this then, it’s our own fault. If you didn’t vote, well it’s also your fault. See how this works??
I could go on for hours but, I think I’ve gotten enough out here today to provoke and inspire enough readers to at least listen to the voice inside them speaking the truth, and maybe, just maybe, these readers will think to themselves, “What a Wonderful World”.
Then start doing what is necessary in each and every way, to keep it so.
On the beaches north of UCSB, in approximately the same area, we often notice a plume of dirty brown water that comes in from far out in the ocean and after hitting the beach, leaves a frothy weird mess. We’ve wondered if it comes from the oil platform, but thought more likely a passing cargo ship on the way out of town opened their tanks after rounding Coal Oil Point. It would be helpful if there was a way to monitor sewage discharge, like in the harbor, where the boats “grey water” tanks are colored with an additive.
Earth Day SB Style = 3 day event, street parking is full, parking garages full, MTD buses empty, piles of trash, and a red tide of red plastic cups, plasticware, and no thanks. 3 days people….”Keep it Green”….yeah, right!
FACTOTUM: You have lost any and all credence and respect with me thanks to this silly comment of yours. You believe 12 gallons of fuel was their only abuse of our oceans? You think 12 gallons of fuel didn’t play havoc with any nearby ocean life?
All one needs to do is to stand up at Shoreline Park and watch the trail of brown fumes coming from the stacks of these cruise ships. People seem to think the ships run on air or something. They run on diesel, those lights are powered 24/7 (not to mention all of the other equipment). The fumes pollute our air. Ban cruise ships.
That is a terrible point of view. The oceans have experienced MAJOR changes (not for the better!) due to humans’ existence and habits. Every “little” thing counts now.
It says none of the cruise ships dumped anything but gray water and that was miles from here…so I guess you’re talking all of the crap from the homeless along East beach and all of our creeks and RVs dumping in our streets.
Aircraft carriers still have Nukes. I have seen them.
Probably the natural marine organisms one sees from the air and far out at sea too- clusters of brown waves in a spidery network – foamy, almost lace like . All natural.
Marinetraffic dot com is the website that shows live ship traffic in all the world’s oceans and major rivers . Use the little side bar funnel to filter what colors represent what types of ships are out there 24/7: mainly cargo and tanker ships, a few cruise ships, fishing vessels, large pleasure craft etc. Fun website.
The CA Current, with saline, high oxygen sub arctic water flows SSE’ly @ roughly 150 degees until past the channel islands where it meets the warm Central North Pacific current and mixes with the CA Counter current. The counter current is pushing north close to shore and it’s upwelling pushes any southerly flow towards the islands and Oxnard. With the shipping lanes 25 miles from here and 5 miles from the islands no way that’s coming from there. The flotsam from ships back in the day like hatch covers were always found out at the islands never here.
Nah,They want the revenue too badly. Gotta pay they’re pensions somehow.Already bleeding property owners dry!
Standing from the bluffs on shore, I’ve witnessed this. I could see (without binoculars) a dark grey/brown/black trail following these Cruiseliners as they left the channel. Its disgusting.
I highly doubt the city council will ban the Carnival Corporation. Most of the dumping happens in international waters prior to their arrival. One way to limit the pollution would be to require visiting ships to be newer, with auxiliary engines which runs on a low-sulphur fuel and have cleaner emissions and pollution practices. The best option would is if the ships could shut off their engines, but we don’t have a port to connect to shore power. They city receives a passenger fee for every passenger who arrives at the Sea Landing. In 2013 they received $258,000 in fees and 555,000 in 2016. Sales tax usually pays for the law enforcement. The city’s report shows 41% of the passengers expressed interest to return, and that might be a tough number for the city council to turn away. Plus the free publicity/commercials from Princess.
Thank your city’s myopic leadership for selling us out for a very tiny bump in tax revenue. These giant ships are an eyesore and are well outside the character of our town. Their influx in our harbor and on our shores has been a pock on the face of a beauty queen. They should not be allowed here let alone become a bi-weekly event.
So once again economics trumps the health of the earth. This kind of bargain being made in places all over the planet will be the end of us.
Speak out at City Council on Tuesday @2pm at City Hall. If you can’t make it email them at SBCityCouncil@SantaBarbaraCA.Gov. Earth Day is next weekend. Get a petition going. We need to Save Santa Barbara. If people don’t take action our quality of life is lost.
Cruise ships are mobile factories of filth and pollution. All you have to do is google “Do Cruise ships pollute?” to learn why these abominations need to be banned from our harbor. Not only do the ships pollute our oceans, the air aboard the ships is so full of particulate matter and PAHs that a recent study declared the air on deck is on a par with Beijing and Santiago when it comes to measurable particulate matter pollution—-i.e., the passengers themselves are breathing in cancer-causing matter. I don’t understand how Santa Barbara ever became a port of call for these mega polluters. Our City Council must move to ban these dastardly ships.
While it may make people feel better for the moment, the protests wont change a thing at city hall. We keep electing the same foxes to oversee the same hen house. Until we reduce our dependency on new and more tax revenue just to pay for the support of yesteryear’s debt and mismanagement, until we reduce the city’s overhead, cut expenses and debt, we will continue to slide towards the inevitable. Insolvency. MtnDriver said it best. We’ve sold out our home and our future for a little extra cash today. The city leadership over the last 30+ years has fleeced us with untold number of horrifically bad decisions. They cannot get out from under the short term fix they get from the tourist trade and development fees. They need it to cover up the massive liabilities and budget shortfalls and to keep the appearance that everything is just dandy in “paradise”. Remember, the issues we see are just the symptoms representing a much more dire disease. We have to cut out the cancer if we want to survive. And that cancer is the entire city leadership and elected officials.
Similarly, we voted to be a nuclear-free city but the Navy ships powered with nuclear reactors are welcomed for the drunk sailors spending their money in lower State Street bars.
Ban them already!!
Be sure to read the report before ramping up the hysteria – most of the “dumping” was passengers throwing chair cushions overboard. Party on. …… “The Miami Herald reviewed each incident and found that 24 were for illegally dumping sewage, food waste or oil; 19 were for illegally burning heavy fuel oil in protected areas; and more than 150 were the result of items like furniture accidentally going overboard. Carnival Corp. reported the violations to authorities directly or noted them in their internal records. None of the violations was intentional, according to the report. “……
International waters are directly connected to our waters, they are not exclusive…
Cruise ships will stir up shallow sediment; just like storms do – refreshes the underwater environment. It is 100% inaccurate to claim these ships are dumping anything into the ocean simply because you see this “trail of brown water”. Work with facts if you want change; not fake news hysteria The reason cruise ships cannot dock directly in town is the ocean floor in this area is too shallow. Ban them if you want, but do it on facts not unfounded lies. Channel Keepers who refuse to monitor vagrancy camps dumping wastes directly into the ocean have been trailing cruise ships for years and have reported no findings.
43 incidents of illegal dumping of toxic waste or burning fuels illegally seems pretty serious to me. I bet they are glad to have your support for violating the law. I hope you are as lenient with all law breakers.
A couple of thoughts-
1) Those cruise ships are keeping many of downtown merchants in business
2) The proceed should pay for the Harbor Patrol to monitor the water and issue fines
One report of dumping was 12 gallons of fuel. Read the report – they are being closely monitored. They have zero interest in destroying their business model or the environment which is what entices people to use their product. Time to drop this instant knee-jerk reaction that all business and all corporations are bad to the bone and greedy devouring monsters. This predictable and typical Santa Barbara “progressive” reaction , absent any context research or facts, is not an admirable community quality.
24 dumpings of hazardous waste is still outrageous – that’s ONLY the times we know about.
Property owners vote to tax themselves, passing mostly all school bonds and parcel taxes. The majority voted to tax themselves more recently passing the Measure C retail sales tax increase. Problem is the deceptive campaign marketing taxing authorities use. If they were honest about why they need more revenues, few if any would pass. Be alert and ask similar questions when they want you to tax yourself even more. Instead of this fake outrage over cruise ships, save your outrage for the lies cities and schools use to get you to hand over even more of yourmoney.
The oceans make up 75% of the earth’s surface. It can absorb 24 dumping of organic compounds and a few chair cushions.. What we cannot absorb is the 24/7 abuse of our local waterways by vagrant camps.
FACTO I’m surprised at you you only care of the discomfort around you and no one else’s discomfort no wonder the travelers are moving into your HOOD…
12:09 PM… “24 dumpings of hazardous waste” of which only the oil was illegal under normal circumstances. Waste as in sewage and food scraps are regularly dumped by pleasure craft so long as it’s 3 miles from shore. I can’t believe I’m actually agreeing with FACTOTUM on this and see the hysteria generated by this article as symptomatic of public ignorance fueling false outrage.
Yeah, thank ex try to be mayor then bails the town Frank Hotchkiss for the wonderful cruise ship business. I’m sure 99.99% of Santa Barbara residents don’t get a dime from the daily offloading buying t-shirts and crap on lower state.
This has Zero to do with cruise ships. If you want to “educate” the masses start another post.
If it is natural why is the brown water and foam hitting just past Coal Oil Point most of the time, and sometimes further up by Bacara? I used to see it, but much worse, occasionally off of Mesa Lane . If it is natural, something changed in the marine environment to have dirty brown and grey water and foam on the beach. This wasn’t happening when we were kids and young adults.
Some polluting activities produce money for us; some polluting activities cost us money. You decide which ones we will still want to support. No value supporting money-sucking pollluting activities like vagrants. But you raise a good point.
Most landlubbers would be shocked to learn that all pleasure craft dump their sewage overboard. Ever seen a dump station in used at the harbour? That’s because it’s entirely legal to dump offshore with restrictions on the types of rubbish that can be disposed of and distance from shore. As for the smoke coming out the stacks on a cruise ship … take a look at old diesel trucks or even freight locomotives. I’m not defending cruise ships just pointing out facts that are ignored in this kind of outrage piece.
You know what they say : You are what you eat .
This is always the answer when we complain about the visual blight of these floating cities. Prove it please. Exactly what wonderful businesses have stayed in business due to cruise ships that were NOT voted in by City Council?