REMARKS
Council Member Erik Bottcher on the Impact of Cruise Industry
0:10:27
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3 min
Council Member Erik Bottcher discusses the economic and environmental impact of the cruise industry in New York City. He highlights the positive economic contributions, such as job creation and benefits to local small businesses, alongside the uneven distribution of these benefits across communities. Bottcher also addresses the significant environmental concerns associated with cruise ships, emphasizing the need for shore power to reduce toxic emissions. The introduction of legislation aims to codify the process of electrifying ports to safeguard health and ensure sustainable industry practices.
Speaker 3
0:10:27
Thank you so much, chair Frias, and thank you to my Friend and colleague, council member, Alexa Avalez, for your leadership on this issue.
0:10:37
We're here today to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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The good is the benefits that the cruise industry provides to New York.
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It is a major economic provider in New York.
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It directly and indirectly employs thousands of New Yorkers in our district, the Manhattan cruise ship terminals do have a positive economic impact in health kitchen and Midtown.
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A lot of the folks from the cruise ship terminals come out into our neighborhoods.
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Patronized local small businesses.
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The hospitality industry provides thousands of good paying jobs for New Yorkers and all five boroughs.
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The bad is that that economic impact is not equally shared among all New Yorkers.
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And I've been learning a lot about this.
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I was out in Redhook for a press conference when we first announced this legislation in the fall only to learn about how the Redhook cruise ship terminals are not directly benefiting the people of Redhook.
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The the the folks getting off those terminals should be spending money in Redhook.
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They should be patronizing small businesses in Redhook, something I wanna talk about today.
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The ugly is the environmental impact of the cruise industry.
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Cruise ships when they're at sea, emit tremendous pollutants.
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The 63 cruise ships owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, emitted 43% more sulfur oxides than all the cars in Europe combined.
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In 2022.
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When they're at port and not connected to shore power, The ships are burning heavy fuels, emitting toxic emissions into the air that's wafting into our neighborhoods.
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This is entirely preventable with shore power.
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In Manhattan, we have no shore power.
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Those ships are burning fuel when they're at port.
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And Redhook, they have the beginnings of shore power, not fully operational.
0:13:05
We appreciate the efforts that EDC has been making to electrify the ports.
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We've been told that everything is being done, its full speed ahead, and that these ports will be electrified as soon as possible.
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What we're doing today with intro 4, the legislation that we're hearing today, is we we want to codify that process to ensure that it happens.
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Our health depends on it.
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Our the health of our stituents depend on it.
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So I look forward to a hearing today where we exercise our oversight authority as a city council.
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Looking into all these issues and our legislative authority codifying sure power in New York City for generations to come.
Speaker 1
0:13:59
Thank you, council member, about your will now turn it over to Committee Council for Swarian.