Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last week, I introduced the Clean Cruise Ship Act to limit the dumping of wastewater by cruise ships. Cruise ships generate millions of gallons of wastewater every day, and currently these ships can dump their waste directly into the oceans with minimal oversight. The Clean Cruise Ship Act would require these ships to obtain permits through EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System to be able to discharge sewage, graywater, and bilge water. It also would require cruise ships to upgrade their wastewater treatment systems to meet the standards of today's best available technology. This technology significantly reduces the pollutants that ships discharge and is already being used successfully on some cruise ships. The problem is real. The number of cruise ship passengers has been growing nearly twice as fast as any other mode of travel. In the U.S. alone, cruise lines carried over 10 million passengers in 2011, with some ships carrying 8,000 passengers or more. These ships produce massive amounts of waste: one ship can produce over 200,000 gallons, or 10 backyard swimming pools, of sewage each week; a million gallons of graywater from kitchens, laundry, and showers; and over 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water that collects in ship bottoms. I have nothing against cruise vacations. They can be a wonderful way to visit many beautiful places.…”