Americas News
Carnival Threatens to Pull Baltimore Service over Emission Limits
Carnival Cruise Lines is threatening to stop calling in Baltimore, Maryland over new emissions rules, and the state's governor, Martin O'Malley, is pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waiver from the rules to keep the cruise ships coming to the city, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Carnival sought the governor's help getting the EPA to expedite a review of its plans for pollution limits within the North American Emissions Control Area (ECA) as the cruise operator decides whether to continue scheduling cruises from Baltimore.
"If jobs are at stake, the governor is going to go to bat for those jobs," said O'Malley's press secretary, Takirra Winfield.
Frank O'Donnell, president of environmental organisation Clean Air Watch called O'Malley's push on the issue an attempt to "intimidate" the EPA.
"What I find absolutely deplorable is that a big polluter like Carnival in effect is trying to use the people of Maryland as pawns in this battle to try to relax life-saving clean-air requirements," O'Donnell said.
"What surprises me a little bit is that O'Malley fell for this so easily."
Carnival and Royal Caribbean each operate one cruise ship sailing from Baltimore, and state officials say the companies and their suppliers provide $90 million a year in economic activity.
The Baltimore Sun said Carnival did not respond to its questions about the possibility of pulling the ship from Baltimore, but a company spokesman said it is "exploring alternative compliance" with the ECA rules including a new type of pollution scrubbers.
The cruise industry has been vocal about concerns around the ECA rules, which require ships to use fuel with no more than 0.10 percent sulfur content starting in 2015.
