News Room: AB 121: Cruise Ships: water quality

State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who authored the California law prohibiting coastal dumping by cruise ships and other oceangoing vessels, praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its announcement today that it has proposed to ban all sewage discharges from large ships in state waters the length of the California coast. read more ...

Cruise ships and large commercial ships will be banned from dumping any kind of sewage—even highly filtered wastewater—along California’s coast out to three miles from shore, under new rules from the Obama administration.

The rules, which are scheduled to be announced Wednesday at a news conference in San Francisco, give California among the strictest laws in the nation limiting pollution from large ships.

“This is going to cover the entire California coastline,” said state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. “Oceangoing vessels should not consider our coastline a place for dumping sewage.”

In 2005, Simitian wrote a bill that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed banning sewage discharges in state waters from cruise ships and commercial ships larger than 300 gross tons.

read more ...

Palo Alto - As of January 1 California’s environment is protected by a new three-bill package authored by Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). Simitian’s most recent environmental bill package covers a wide range of environmental issues - from forest protection and clean oceans, to ensuring public participation in the environmental review process. read more ...

Palo Alto –Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) announced today that the Governor signed Assembly Bill 47, Simitian’s bill to more fully protect sensitive forest habitat and watershed. Davis signed the bill over the weekend, in an effort to beat the Sunday midnight deadline. AB 47 is the fourth and final piece of Simitian’s environmental legislation for this year. read more ...

Palo Alto –Governor Gray Davis signed Assembly Bill 121 earlier this morning, Assemblyman Joe Simitian’s (D-Palo Alto) cruise ship pollution bill. read more ...

Sacramento – Assemblymembers Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), George Nakano (D-Torrance), and John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) are calling for passage of three bills regulating cruise ship pollution along the California Coast. read more ...

Sacramento – Assemblymembers Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), George Nakano (D-Torrance), and John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) will hold a press conference on Wednesday, August 20, at 10:00AM in the Governor’s Press Room (Room 1190, Capitol) calling for passage of three bills regulating cruise ship pollution along the California Coast. read more ...

Palo Alto – A pair of “Clean Coast” environmental bills to reduce air pollution and the amount of sewage dumped from cruise ships made headway this week after both bills passed in the Assembly Environmental Safety Committee. The legislation, introduced by Assemblymember Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), seeks to strictly regulate cruise ship waste along the California coast. read more ...