 By Carrie James April 13, 2006
Well after looking at the unofficial election results approving the new dock expansion, let's look on the positive side and start planning for what exactly these new docks will provide for the Cruise industry. In Juneau, cruise ships are not allowed to keep their engines running and are required to plug into shore power to minimize the air pollution that come from these cruise liners that can accomodate up to 3500 plus people. To me that is $$$$$ signs. This would significantly help Ketchikan Public Utilities which always seems to be in the red, and the residents seem to be the ones to pay the consequences by continued raises in the price of a kilowatt. I recommend to follow Juneau's approach at minimizing air pollution and have our local government create policy/resolutions to enforce the cruise industry to plug into shore power in our home town. This would be beneficial to the city, who owns KPU, and to the air quality of our town. I am bringing this up to bring solutions, and to take ideas from what other towns like Juneau are doing. This could generate vast revenue for KPU at cruise industry expense. This is not reinventing the wheel, there are already examples of successes out there. Let's look out for the betterment
of our community.
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