President Obama has approved a ban, initiated by California Senator Joe Simitian in 2004, to force cruise and cargo ships to dump their sewage at least three miles out from any California coast. Joe Simitian initiated the ban in 2004, along with Governor Schwarzenegger, but the EPA under the Bush administration never signed it.
This banning of large ship sewage dumping is a triumph for California residents as the EPA estimates this new rule will prevent the dumping of more than 22 million gallons of treated sewage in California waters each year.
Other environmentally friendly actions California has been taking in order to keep their shores clean are plastic bag bans. California has been advocating the use of reusable shopping bags over single use bags for years.
Save Our Shores has been a big advocator of using reusable grocery bags over single use bags and has helped residents embrace this positive change by handing out reusable shopping bags in front of major grocery stores, attending City Council meetings, hosting monthly beach clean ups, and educating the public about the importance of clean oceans and shores.
Save Our Shores says the items found most frequently during beach clean ups are cigarette butts, pieces of plastic, plastic food wrappers, Styrofoam pieces and paper trash. Since plastic never completely bio-degrades in the ocean, tiny little pieces wash up on beaches throughout the world as well as in the stomachs of sea mammels who mistake the plastic for food. The plastic pieces come from bottle caps, cigarette lighters, plastic bags, plastic bottles, and other plastic items that wash out to sea from our drainage systems.
President Obama signing the paper work necessary to pass the banning of large ship sewage dumping within 3 miles of California shores is great for our planet and the beautiful shorelines of California.
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