Cruise ship discharge target of bay lobby

It seems an unlikely place to spot buffet-bloated and trinket-seeking cruise passengers. But Portland, Maine, is facing a burst in cruise liners’ stopping off for lobster eating, L.L. Bean shopping and wishful Bush-spotting in Kennebunkport.

With this past season’s three dozen-plus cruise ships pulling into Portland’s harbor came the area’s first cruise ship spill. The Regal Empress, a 900-passenger cruise ship, dumped 200 gallons of oil and an unknown amount of sewage into Portland Harbor. Although the cruise liner received a $500 fine for dumping the oil and extra fees for cleaning up the oil, local Friends of Casco Bay members fear the Clean Water Act will not punish future cruise liners from dumping waste

“Cruise ships say, ‘We’re civilized. We don’t do that,”‘ said Joe Payne, Casco Baykeeper for the Friends of Casco Bay. “But the law says they can do that.”

The Friends of Casco Bay is lobbying to introduce regulations preventing waste discharge.

“Not to stop cruise ships,” Payne said. “But we want to make sure they can’t discharge wastewater overboard.”