We're pretty lucky here in Seattle that our main industries are pretty clean from an environmental standpoint. We've been shipping all of those dirty industries out of cities since the seventies and have been doing so at hyperspeed now that we've recognized our urban areas as holding pens for the creative class. There just aren't a lot of harmful byproducts invloved in computer software manufacturing - Maybe an overabundance of NorWestNerdCons, but that's about it. Every economy's gotta grow, though, right? Isn't that the system that we've agreed to? An economy that isn't expanding is dying, so bring on those new industries.
Tourism, for example. That's a clean industry. "The cleanest type of revenue anyone can wish for," according to a commentor who refuses to toe the Seattlest line on NASCAR. So when Holland America announces that it will double its sailings out of Seattle in the coming year we should be jumping for joy. Tourists! Clean money! What a boon to all the crappy tee shirt sellers that line the waterfront! The saving grace of Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe! Clean money! Tourists are great, obviously. They come, they spend, they leave with a few baubles and the knowledge that we live in a prettier, smarter, cleaner, just plain better place then they do. See ya.
The problem is they have to get here. Tourism money isn't squeeky clean when it shows up in Elliot Bay on a boat the size of a skyscraper. Those boats burn a lot of diesel to get in and out of the Sound - We've been on the water in the Bay when one of those things goes by and there's an instant blue fog left in their wake. All those tourists also produce a lot of "black water" after gorging themselves in Belltown restaraunts that has a tendancy to find its way into the Sound when it thinks no one's looking. We wail and moan and gnash the teeth when Senator Stevens threatens us with increased tanker traffic in the Sound, but cruise ships could be the environmental nightmare that we invite in with a smile and warm handshake.
The city of Seattle has to have some leverage in dealing with these ships. Cruising is on the rise and that ain't changing anytime soon, but people don't want to have fly fifteen hours to some country filled with crazy ass foreigners to get on a boat. Seattleites are probably foreign enough, thanks. They're coming to Seattle. So let's make these boats burn a little cleaner, at least. Can't we force them to use B20 or higher like our own ferry fleet does? After they leave Puget Sound (which, admit it, isn't all that clean to begin with) they head up the inside passage to Alaska, one of the most beautiful inland waterways that exists. We sure as hell can't depend on the Alaskans to protect it. The Canadianese might be interested in forcing the cruise lines to green up, but wouldn't it be great if we took the lead on it? Port of Seattle?
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This is a great point--although I wonder how much control local cities can have over waterways, which are generally the purview of the feds. I doubt we could, say, prevent ships from China from docking in Seattle because we don't like their human rights violations.
I agree - this was one of the filthiest industries we could have invited in here. Couldn't most of these people be just as happy staying in Omaha with a Viewmaster and a bunch of stuff to microwave?
And Seth is right, jurisdiction is a big problem with all the mixed modes of transportation involved. A preponderance of them are controlled by the Port (Seatac, the waterfront), and some leverage could be applied there. I think, though, that the state, through the Dept of Ecology, could do the most thorough job. If they had the manpower. And the will.
I figure there has to be some kind of lever to use against them short of legislation. I mean, didn't we just build them an entire slip? "Clean up your act or we'll stop spending millions on your behalf," would be a good start.
I guess I watch Seattle Channel too much, but there was a typically self-concratulatory story there a while back about one step that the city has taken to at least slightly mitigate the impact of the ships.
For at least one of the ships from one of the lines (Princess), City Light installed big extension cords so that the boat can hook up to the city's cleaner power sources while it's moored instead of running its own dirty diesel generators while docked (as the other ships apparently still do).
Here's a link to a City Light press release: http://www2.cityofseattle.net/light/Key/utilityTrends/default.asp