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San Francisco Bay Fund Inventory of Projects
Clean Vessels Initiative
Organization: Friends of the Earth (formerly Bluewater Network)
2002 Grant Recipient - San Francisco County
Purpose
Fast Ferries and Cruise Ships - Clean Water Transit or More Air and Water Pollution? Commercial vessels, fast ferries, and cruise ships represent one of the fastest-growing, least-regulated sources of air and water pollution, contributing to global climate change, marine pollution, and damaging health effects for people living near ports and coastlines. Bluewater Network's Clean Vessels projects are designed to reduce increasing threats to public health caused by airborne emissions, as well as serious threats to the marine environment from legal and illegal dumping of sewage and toxic wastes, from exotic species introductions, and via pollution caused by ships that burn the dirtiest fuels.
The 2002 Clean Vessels Campaign - Fast Ferries and Cruise Terminal project focused on winning a final fast ferries plan for San Francisco that set a new national standard for fast ferry fleet expansion nationwide, and created ferries 10 times cleaner than the highly-polluting vessels originally proposed. We also won new standards and establishment of working oversight groups to monitor the development of San Francisco? new Cruise Ship Terminal. One cruise ship visiting San Francisco Bay produces more air pollution than the Hunters Point power plant, a notoriously dirty facility. Bluewater Network continues to advocate for clean vessel traffic in order to protect the Bay Area? unique environment and its public health.
Bluewater Network's mission was to champion innovative solutions and inspire individuals to protect the earth's finite and vulnerable ecosystems. Bluewater Network promoted critical policy changes in government and industry to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and eradicate other root causes of air and water pollution, global warming, and habitat destruction.
2012 Update
In 2005, Bluewater Network merged with Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth fights to defend the environment and to create a more healthy and just world. Our campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, keeping toxic and risky technologies out of the food we eat and products we use, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.
NRPI Database Entry:
http://endeavor.des.ucdavis.edu/nrpi/NRPIDescription.asp?ProjectPK=644
Teri Shore, currently with the Turtle Island Restoration Network, and Marsha Mather-Thrift, presently at The Rosie the Riveter Trust, were the original Directors of this project.
Documents
- Commute Emissions in New York Harbor, 2003 (1 page chart.)
- New York Ferry Emissions 2003, Bluewater Network, October 2003. (2 pps.)
- Air Pollution from Passenger Ferries in New York Harbor, July 2003/Bluewater Network. (25 pps.)
- The Cruise Industry and Environmental History and Practice: Is a Memorandum of Understanding Effective for Protecting the Environment? / Ross A. Klein. October 2003. (26 pps.)
- A Strategy to Improve Public Transit with an Environmentally Friendly Ferry System; Final Implementation and Operations Plan / San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority, July 2003. (70 pps.)
- Cruise Ship Pollution - Air and Water / Teri Shore, Tim Eichenberg (PowerPoint presentation. 23 slides.)
Volunteer Opportunities
Friends of the Earth provides current students or recent college graduates an opportunity to join our staff for three to six months, work on our issues and campaigns, and gain valuable experience in the environmental community. For more information, please visit http://www.foe.org/about-us/jobs.
Primary Contact for the Project
Marcie Keever
Oceans & Vessels Project Director
Friends of the Earth
Phone: (415) 544-0790
E-mail: mkeever@foe.org
Secondary Contact for the Project
John Kaltenstein
Clean Vessels Coordinator
Friends of the Earth
Phone: (415) 544-0790
E-mail: jkaltenstein@foe.org
Quick Links
Project Photos
Cruise ship trails sediment stream as it enters port in Key West, Florida, disrupting water quality and marine life. (Photo by Rob O’Neal).
Russell Long, Bluewater Network Executive Director speaks at a press conference to announce signing of two Bluewater sponsored cruise ship pollution bills that prevent dumping of wastewater and hazardous waste within 3 miles of California’s shore. Assemblyman Joe Simitian, the bills’ author, (second from right) looks on.
One of a generation of highly-polluting fast ferries, these vessels are now being proposed as the core of ferry fleets across the U.S. Bluewater has set a new standard in San Francisco that we plan to see replicated elsewhere.
The visionary Solar Sailor from Australia utilizes cutting edge technology that harnesses solar and wind power to enhance the hybrid-electric propulsion system. Bluewater Network introduced these concepts to SF ferry planners, who plan to incorporate solar panels on a new fuel cell demonstration ferry.
Cruise Ship Pollution - Air and Water (PowerPoint presentation. 23 slides.)
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