The primary cruise ship of the season arrives in Juneau on April 23, 2022. (Photograph by Paige Sparks/KTOO)
April brings the beginning of Alaska’s cruise ship season. Juneau will welcome lots of of cruise ships within the coming months. In a current interactive function for Hakai journal referred to as ‘Cruise Ship Invasion’, freelance investigative journalist Andrew Engelson appeared on the influence the cruise business has on the surroundings and high quality of life in Southeast Alaska.
Engelson talked with KTOO’s Anna Canny about his findings.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
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Anna Canny: You’re based mostly in Seattle. And that’s type of the hub the place a whole lot of these Alaskan cruise ships set sail. So I’m positive you’re used to only seeing the presence of the business, however as a reporter, what motivated you to take a deep dive into their environmental impacts?
Andrew Engelson: You may’t assist however see these ships right here. And I used to be conscious that, , there have been a whole lot of impacts, and I’ve seen reporting on it — , the carbon impacts, the emissions. After which, , these are floating accommodations which have as much as 4,000 individuals on them. And so these persons are, , brushing their tooth and utilizing showers. And so there’s going to be handled sewage, grey water, all of the trash that’s generated, and, , hundreds of vacationers principally doubling or tripling the dimensions of the inhabitants of small cities when the ships arrive. However I wished to dig in deeper. And so I spoke to the journal that revealed it, Hakai, about how we might strategy that.
Anna Canny: As you talked about, there’s been a whole lot of reporting on this over time, however one thing that’s actually distinctive about your piece, I feel, is the formatting of it. So we observe this one fictional ship — you name it the Oceanic Topaz — and we observe by way of its stops on its journey by way of Alaska. I’m wondering what led you to that strategy?
Andrew Engelson: Yeah, I imply, the findings I had discovered on this, had been actually overwhelming. You understand, placing it in a conventional article was gonna make it troublesome to essentially type of cumulatively see these impacts. However if you happen to type of take a look at one ship and, seeing the influence of only one ship on its seven day journey, I feel was was fairly highly effective.
Anna Canny: I simply wish to spotlight a number of the numbers that you just convey up in your reporting: 2,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. After which, in fact, you employ scorching tubs to visualise the wastewater, which I believed was useful: 400 scorching tubs of sewage and three,000 scorching tubs of grey water. And naturally, there’s the trash. I feel it was eight tons of trash. These are large numbers. And that’s all for one ship. And then you definately begin to perceive right here in Juneau, we’re seeing as much as 5 ships a day.
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Andrew Engelson: It’s wonderful to consider that there are practically 300 of them, making that journey. You understand, 13 ships, 300 sailings, it’s lots.
Anna Canny: Right here in Juneau, one thing that actually struck me is that almost all of our marine emissions, I feel upwards of 80%, might be linked to the diesel gas that burns with cruise ships. However I’m questioning if you happen to might contextualize that piece somewhat bit extra for me.
Andrew Engelson: Sure, it was actually stunning, as a result of I feel a whole lot of us, we’re all the time fascinated with local weather impacts about, , whether or not we drive our automobile on a visit, or if we take a flight, and , the place cruises match into that as properly. And, cruises appear to be actually excessive on that degree. And that was pretty stunning to see that one seven-day cruise placing out 2,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equal to driving 600 automobiles for a yr.
Anna Canny: These diesel fuels are actually heavy on emissions, however they’re additionally heavy on one other type of air pollution, which I wasn’t tremendous aware of. It’s the influence of scrubber discharge.
Andrew Engelson: Plenty of these ships, for years, used what’s referred to as excessive sulfur gas, and it places out these particulates. It’s actually unhealthy air pollution. And so the Worldwide Maritime Group advisable that ships both change to a low sulfur gas, or put in what’s referred to as a scrubber, which principally sprays water by way of the exhaust, and principally taking that and placing these pollution into the water, as a substitute of into the air. The issue is, is then it takes these pollution and places it out into the ocean. That discharge could be very acidic, it contributes to ocean acidification. It has, , metals and different pollution in it. And it’s actually very unregulated, as a result of it’s comparatively new. I imply, most individuals find out about, , sewage, and that it ought to be handled. However that is dumped in each Washington State, British Columbia and Alaska.
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Anna Canny: It’s clear from a whole lot of the sources that you just interview that there’s positively concern, like Alaskans are involved and are noticing these impacts. However there’s a commerce off for lots of those communities, proper? You hear concerning the financial profit that the cruise business brings.
Andrew Engelson: Yeah, it’s an advanced concern. I imply, , Seattle really positively advantages there’s no query. And definitely the financial advantages to locations like Juneau and Ketchikan are excessive. And perhaps the financial advantages are, , value it. However while you type of whole up all of these impacts and the impacts the standard of life, , there’s no query. And it was stunning to me that there was a ballot of Juneau residents that mentioned, a majority of them had been like, sure, we should always restrict the variety of cruise ships.
Anna Canny: Nicely, yeah, I’m positive will probably be actually fascinating for our listeners, as a result of our first cruise ships arrived simply over two weeks from now. And also you’ve given me heaps to consider as I watched them begin to are available in. So thanks for chatting with me, Andrew.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska’s first “flyball” league held its annual “Great Alaska Barkout Flyball Tournament” on Saturday in midtown at Alyeska Canine Trainers.
Flyball is a fast-paced sport in which relay teams of four dogs and their handlers compete to cross the finish line first while carrying a tennis ball launched from a spring loaded box. Saturday’s tournament was one of several throughout the year held by “Dogs Gone Wild,” which started in 2004 as Alaska’s first flyball league.
“We have here in Alaska, we’ve got, I think it’s about 6 tournaments per year,” said competitor and handler Maija Doggett. “So you know every other month or so there will be a tournament hosted. Most of them are hosted right here at Alyeska Canine Trainers.”
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Last week, Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi indicated he will rule that Alaska does not have authority to permit access across its lands to facilitate oil and gas development on the North Slope.
The Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources plans to fight and appeal any final adverse ruling that undermines the state’s constitutional interests in resource development.
The Department of Natural Resources has issued a permit allowing Oil Search Alaska (OSA) to cross the Kuparuk River Unit, operated by Conoco Phillips Alaska, to develop the Pikka Unit. As described in the State’s brief to the court, “the denial of such access implicates the delay of development of millions of barrels of oil and billions of dollars of public revenues.”
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“The State of Alaska has a constitutional obligation to maximize the development of our resources,” DNR Commissioner John Boyle said on Nov. 22. “We have to confirm with the Supreme Court that we have the authority to permit access for all developers to ensure we can meet this obligation.”
Once the Superior Court issues the final judgement, Alaska will be able to file its appeal. This is expected to occur in the coming weeks.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – For Juneau resident Tamara Roberts, taking photos of the northern lights was just a hobby — that is until a different light altogether caught her eye.
Capturing what she’s called strange lights in the skies of Juneau near her home on Thunder Mountain, Roberts said she’s taken 30 to 40 different videos and photos of the lights since September 2021.
“Anytime I’m out, I’m pretty sure that I see something at least a couple times a week,” Roberts said. “I’m definitely not the only one that’s seeing them. And if people just pay more attention, they’ll notice that those aren’t stars and those aren’t satellites.”
Roberts has been a professional photographer for over 20 years. She said she changed interests from photographing people to wildlife and landscape when she moved to Juneau 13 years ago.
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Once she started making late-night runs trying to capture the northern lights, she said that’s when she started encountering her phenomenon.
Roberts said not every encounter takes place above Thunder Mountain: her most recent sighting happened near the Mendenhall Glacier while her stepmom was visiting from Arizona.
“She’d never been here before, so we got up and we drove up there, and lo and behold, there it was,” Roberts said. “I have some family that absolutely thinks it’s what it is, and I have some family that just doesn’t care.”
Roberts described another recent encounter near the glacier she said was a little too close for comfort. While driving up alone in search of the northern lights, she expected to see other fellow photographers out for the same reason as she normally does.
But this night was different.
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“I’ve gone up there a million times by myself, and this night, particularly, it was clear, it was cold and the [aurora] KP index was high … so as I’m driving up and there’s nobody there. And I was like, Okay, I’ll just wait and somebody will show up.’ So I backed up into the parking spot underneath the street light — the only light that’s really there on that side of the parking lot — and I turned all my lights off, left my car running, looked around, and there was that light right there, next to the mountain.”
Roberts said after roughly 10 minutes of filming the glowing light, still not seeing anyone else around, she started to get a strange feeling that maybe she should leave.
“I just got this terrible gut feeling,” Roberts said. “I started to pull out of my parking spot and my car sputtered. [It] scared me so bad that I just gunned the accelerator, but my headlights … started like flashing and getting all crazy.
“I had no headlights, none all the way home, no headlights.”
According to the Juneau Police Department, there haven’t been any reports of strange lights in the sky since Sept. 14, when police say a man was reportedly “yelling about UFOs in the downtown area.”
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Responding officers said they did not locate anything unusual, and no arrests were made following the man’s report.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service in Juneau also said within the last seven days, no reports of unusual activity in the skies had been reported. The Federal Aviation Administration in Juneau did not respond.
With more and more whistleblowers coming forward in Congressional hearings, Roberts said she thinks it’s only a matter of time before the truth is out there.
“Everybody stayed so quiet all these years for the fear of being mocked,” Roberts said. “Now that people are starting to come out, I think that people should just let the reality be what it is, and let the evidence speak for itself, because they’re here, and that’s all there is to it.”
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