Advisory: Activists aim to stop cruise ships in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park

12pm AKST Feb 10: Groups will gather at National Park Service HQ in Anchorage, Alaska to demand suspension of Carnival Corporation permits until third-party pollution monitoring installed on ships 

TRADITIONAL LANDS OF THE DENA’INA PEOPLES (ANCHORAGE, AK) — Activists with the Clean Up Carnival Coalition will hold a rally and press conference outside the National Park Service’s Anchorage Regional Office at 12 p.m. AKST on Monday, February 10, to deliver a petition to the federal agency calling for the suspension of Carnival Corporation’s cruise ship permits in Glacier Bay National Park — until the company installs third-party monitoring of water and air pollution on its ships and makes the data available to the public in real time. 

WHO: Activists with the Clean Up Carnival Coalition, including representatives from Stand.earth, Pacific Environment, and Friends of the Earth US, who will be joined by local tribal leaders and community members, including:

• DJ Tyson, Pacific Environment: Tyson is the Arctic Program Associate at Pacific Environment. He grew up on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.
• Kendra Ulrich, Stand.earth: Ulrich is the Senior Shipping Campaigner at Stand.earth, where she is working to prevent the use of scrubbers, or Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS), as an alternative compliance mechanism for the International Maritime Organization’s 2020 fuel standards.
• Verner Wilson, Friends of the Earth US: Wilson is the Senior Oceans Campaigner at Friends of the Earth US. He is a member of the Curyung Tribal Council in Bristol Bay, Alaska.
• Wanda Culp, Tlingit tribe: Culp is a Tlingit artist, activist, advocate, and hunter/fisher/gatherer of wild foods. She lives in Hoonah, Alaska, and considers Glacier Bay National Park to be part of the ancestral territory of the Tlingit tribe.

WHAT: Activists will hold a rally and press conference to deliver a petition to the federal agency calling for the suspension of Carnival Corporation’s cruise ship permits in Glacier Bay National Park until electronic monitoring of water and air pollution is installed on the ships and the data is made available to the public in real time. 

The petition is signed by more than 46,000 people who want the National Park Service to stop letting Carnival Corporation use the waters of Glacier Bay National Park and the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary as a dumping ground for its sewage, greywater, and food waste.

After the press conference, the groups will meet with National Park Service Acting Regional Director Don Striker to deliver the petition.

WHEN: 12-12:45 p.m. AKST Monday, February 10 / 1-1:45 p.m. PST / 4-4:45 p.m. EST

WHERE: National Park Service Alaska Regional Office, 240 W 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501

WHY: The move comes after Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise operator, pled guilty to probation violations in June 2019 for illegally dumping wastewater and plastic into the ocean, burning dirty fuel where it wasn’t allowed, and other serious violations.  The guilty plea follows Carnival’s seven felony convictions for illegally dumping oily waste into the ocean for years and falsifying records to cover it up, including illegally discharging greywater in Glacier Bay National Park and failing to report it immediately to the Coast Guard.

ONLINE: The press conference will be livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/standearth/. A video will be available to download after the livestream is complete.

VISUALS: Activists will hold 10-by-10 ft banners that read “Protect Alaska Waters”, “No Permits for Polluters” and “Glacier Bay Keep Out Cruise Pollution.” There will also be an art installation of an 8 ft long cruise ship belching pollution.

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Media contact: Kendra Ulrich, Senior Shipping Campaigner, kendra@stand.earth, 360-255-3555

Available for interviews: Gershon Cohen, PhD: Cohen is the project director at Alaska Clean Water Advocacy in Haines, Alaska. He was instrumental in passing the ballot initiative that created Alaska’s Ocean Ranger Program, which was recently defunded.