Bangor Daily News, Feb. 16
With the proliferation of cruise ships along Maine’s coast, it is only natural that environmental regulators want to develop strong policies to prevent the degradation of the water and creatures that live in it. Lawmakers are currently grappling with how best to do this. Although not popular with those who favor stringent regulations, a compromise crafted by the Department of Environmental Protection that allows ships to certify that they will not discharge in Maine waters is likely the best result that can be hoped for.

Late last year, the DEP issued a report calling for new rules requiring ships carrying more than 50 passengers to register with the state and pay a fee of up to $3,750 per voyage to discharge wastewater along the coast. …

Soon after the report was released, the Department of Economy and Community Development raised concerns that the fees would stifle Maine’s growing popularity as a cruise ship stop. So the fees were quickly scrapped by DEP.

Without the fees the DEP does not have money to monitor cruise ships for compliance with the proposed discharge licensing requirements also called for in the report. Without money to do compliance and enforcement, Maine’s discharge laws effectively become voluntary.

That left the department to propose the compromise plan last week. Under this plan, large ships coming to Maine must agree to adhere to an industry-wide memorandum of understanding that prohibits the discharge of wastewater within four miles of the shore.

If they do not do this “self certification,” they must apply to DEP for a discharge license. The DEP will study what to do with smaller ships.

At the same time, the DEP will move ahead with creating no-discharge zones along the coast of Maine, starting with Casco Bay. These zones will primarily apply to smaller, recreational vessels that do not have the sophisticated wastewater treatment systems now standard on many cruise ships. …

The DEP is on the right track in encouraging the industry, which relies on clean oceans to attract passengers, to police itself. If this approach does not work, stringent licensing requirements should be revisited, but not without first figuring out how to raise money for DEP enforcement efforts without penalizing an industry that contributes more to the Maine economy each year.


Victims deserve justice
The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, Feb. 13
Three indictments are cold comfort to families of the 100 people killed in a fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., a year ago this month, and the 200 injured survivors, many of whom suffered life-altering harm. There will be no solace for them knowing that the blaze was entirely preventable, started by pointless pyrotechnics that ignited foam soundproofing material that did not meet fire codes.

Society – and human compassion – demands retribution for such suffering. …

Victims of this travesty … deserve justice. Legal experts cite the complicated nature of the case, saying it would be hard to prove that the actions of people other than those indicted were criminal. But the public is entitled to a full explanation of why some who sanctioned an unsafe environment are not to be held accountable, and assurance that fire codes will be enforced. …


Not above the law
Los Angeles Daily News, Feb.15
It’s easy to sympathize with the elected officials in San Francisco who have begun issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. They believe in this issue passionately, and they’re doing something they believe in.

But they’re also breaking the law.

And elected officials are sworn to uphold the law, even laws they disdain.

Four years ago, Californians overwhelmingly voted to define marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman. Unless that law is changed, no officeholder – no matter how passionate – has any business flouting it. …

If every official were to behave like those in San Francisco when they don’t like a law, we would have anarchy, and people’s faith in a system of laws based on democratic principles would be destroyed.

For those who are committed to changing California’s law on marriage – or any law – there’s an established process for initiating reform. They can protest in the streets, lobby their legislators, start a ballot initiative and take their case to the public.

The job of public officials is to enforce the law, even to work to change it – but not to break it.


Lost in the shuffle
Al-Akhbar, Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 17
The American election season has begun and we wait for it every four years just like the soccer World Cup, as all the cards … are in America’s hands.

The tradition has been for all American presidents to avoid this explosive issue, otherwise known as the Arab-Israeli struggle, during this year to avoid angering Israel or its immense propaganda machine. …

As America’s elections draw near, the leaders of Israel cannot find a better time to go through with any of their plans. The American administration can do nothing but move its hand in a non-threatening way, then quickly go back to flirtations and niceties and the statements of total and eternal support for Israel, while the international community, from Europe to Asia to Russia and China, lies helpless. …