Thanks so much to Kathy Coghill for her My Turn, “Cruise ships are shifting air pollution into Juneau’s marine waters,” in the Sept. 4 Juneau Empire. It was well-written and well-researched. Pieces like that show one of the important benefits of having a local newspaper. I agreed with her opening comments to treat individual visitors nicely and to engage in discussions about cruise ship impacts — and every other topic of public import for that matter — respecting the opinions of people with different viewpoints.
And I await a response from the cruise ships and CBJ on her main point: Will the cruise ships voluntarily stop using dirty fuel? Will the cruise ships stop using scrubbers to move pollutants out of the air and into the water or do we need to take steps to make it a legal requirement?
Mary Alice McKeen
Juneau