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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed two bills into law that crack down on smokestack and sewage emissions by cruise lines along the state coastline.
One bill, AB 471, authored by Rep. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, bars cruise ships from incinerating waste within three miles of shore, technically defined as state waters.
The other, AB 2093, written by Rep. George Nakano, DTorrance, prevents the ships from dumping gray water, or sewage from kitchens, sinks and showers, in state waters.
If the governor signs another of Simitian's bills the Legislature approved in late August - AB 2672, which would stop the ships from dumping toilet sewage, known as black water, in state waters - California could have some of the toughest cruise ship pollution laws in the country.
But Michael Crye, the president of the Arlington, Va.-based International Council of Cruise Lines, which represents 118 ships belonging to the world's largest companies that sail in U.S. waters, said while it backed the bill to curtail smokestack emissions and the bill calling for the cessation of gray-water dumping, the legislation proposed to bar black-water dumping is flawed.
Local Support For Cruise Lines
Rita Vandergaw, spokeswoman for the San Diego Unified Port District, said she agrees with Crye and supports the position of the cruise line industry association.
'"The cruise industry has adhered to all the state's...