July 12, 2004
And they want us to trust them…
BY: Dawn
Last week, a former executive of Holland America Cruise Line pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in a pollution case in Miami federal court. He was charged with filing false reports about the existence of an environmental audit program at the company, one of Carnival Corp.’s brands.
Richard K. Softye, vice president for operating line compliance at the Seattle-based cruise line, was sentenced to three years probation, ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and perform 450 hours of community service…
“The charge against Softye stems from a pollution case settled in 2002 in which Carnival pleaded guilty to six felony counts and agreed to pay $18 million in fines related to the dumping of oily discharges into the waters off Florida and the Caribbean.”
And this industry keeps asking us to trust it! They talk about their industry-wide environmental policies, and many times, when a state has considered legislation for cruise ship pollution, the cruise industry has called for a voluntary agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) instead of legislation. But as we keep seeing, these promises to deal with their wastes are unenforceable and do not work.
This is just more evidence of why an enforceable national law, like the Clean Cruise Ships Act, is needed.