Video: Growing cruise ship industry impacting air, water quality

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The 2008 cruise season sets sail April 1, and while the local businesses prepare to feast on the proceeds, the environment may be left holding the tab.

The first ships are yet to arrive, but there will be more of them sailing in and out of Seattle than ever before.

Local agencies are trying to make sure they don't leave a mark on the air and water quality.

Port of Seattle officials credit the rapidly growing cruise ship industry for pumping up the local economy with millions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

"The Port of Seattle tends to count only the benefits of the cruise ship industry and not count the costs. It's a bit like counting your paycheck, but the not the charges your racking up on the credit card," said researcher Eric de Place, Sightline Institute.

One of the charges pours freely from the stacks of some of the ships.

Diesel smoke, and lots of it, blends with the already high amount of emissions generated at the busy port.

"Ports are a big contributor to air pollution in our region, but there are many strategies we can employ that will reduce the impacts as the ports grow," said Dennis McLerran, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

One of the biggest is providing shore power to two-thirds of the cruise ships stopping in Seattle. This cuts entirely the diesel emissions normally burned to power the ships in port.

And when shore power is not available, the Port is pressuring the cruise lines to burn cleaner fuel.

"We've asked our cruise ships to move toward 1.5 percent sulfur. The worldwide average is 2.7 percent sulfur in their fuel," said Charla Skaggs, Port of Seattle.

That will help, but can it keep up with the staggering rate of cruise ship growth?

In 1999 cruise ships made six trips out of Seattle serving 6,600 passengers. By 2002 those numbers grew to 75 trips and a quarter million passengers.

The numbers more than doubled again by 2005 with 169 sailings and 800,000 passengers.

And in 2008 the number of trips jumps to 211.

The Port has taken great strides to reduce the industries harmful affects, but knows it will need to make many more to keep up with that pace.

And we're just talking about the air side of things. There is also the water quality issue. The industry is also being pressured to improve the ways it handles the ships' sewage.