DEC commissioner continues to carry water for cruise ship industry
Jason Brune, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, has been falsely claiming for more than two years that the cruise ship monitoring program created by a voter initiative in 2006 has been eliminated.
The program still exists in state law, but he and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have chosen to not implement it, claiming they have a better approach that is cheaper and more effective.
Long before Dunleavy put him on state payroll, Brune opposed the Ocean Ranger program. He said it was “near and dear to my heart” and he was always “grumpy” about the monitoring effort.
This has never been about the cost, as the entire expense is paid for entirely by passengers. It’s about the level of enforcement and the protection of Alaska waters.
The rangers are certified marine engineers who know how cruise ships operate and are hired to check for compliance with environmental laws.
It is understandable why the foreign-owned cruise line never wanted them on board their floating cities, which have a larger population than most Southeast settlements.
We need to keep them on the job, despite the claims by Dunleavy and Brune that their work is onerous for the industry and getting rid of the rangers would show Alaska “is open for business.”
“These are people that are basically breathing down the neck of folks on the cruise ships,” Brune complained to the Resource Development Council on March 21, 2019.
“They’re not adding any additional environmental oversight or care for the environment. These people are not Alaskans predominately and no other industry in the state is regulated 24/7. Can you imagine having someone breathing down your neck at your office 24/7? It’s not appropriate.”
He said, “to set a standard for one industry that we don’t set for all the others is inappropriate, so we’re working to repeal that.”
These are floating cities that should be monitored 24/7. It is entirely appropriate and this is not a matter of unfairly targeting the industry.
Brune has repeated his false claim that the program was eliminated in a press release that Alaska newspapers are printing as a guest opinion, without bothering to correct the record and insist that he tell the truth.
Brune must think that no one is paying attention and that he won’t be called out on by the pliant press.
In his press release, Brune asks for “thoughtful comments.” His email address is jason.brune@alaska.gov.
The voters created the Ocean Ranger program because they wanted a level of monitoring that Dunleavy and Brune consider offensive and inappropriate.
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