Environmental activists with Stand.earth and 350 Seattle organized protests related to the Port of Seattle’s Cruise Terminal 46 expansion proposal on November 6.
The activists called out the port “for considering doing business with companies like Carnival Corporation that have a decade-long criminal record of felony violations,” according to a statement from Stand.earth.
The protest were organized outside the Cruise Connections industry event where the activists donned dolphin and polar bear costumes to express their concern over how the cruise terminal expansion proposal “would impact local air quality and water quality, and contribute to global climate change.”
The Port is currently engaged in a process to select a developer for the proposed Terminal 46 Cruise Terminal. They are reviewing bids from three consortiums, one of which includes Carnival Corporation, the parent company of Holland America which sends several cruise ships from Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. to Alaska.
“Carnival Corporation is currently on criminal probation in the U.S. following seven felony convictions for illegally dumping oily waste into the ocean for years and falsifying records to cover it up. Worse still, the company recently pleaded guilty to violating its probation, by illegally dumping wastewater and plastic into the ocean, burning dirty fuel where it wasn’t allowed, and other serious violations. The Port of Seattle should put its environmental values into practice by avoiding doing business with criminal entities like Carnival Corporation,” Jim Ace, Climate Campaigner with Stand.earth, said.