From Sean Cockerham in Juneau –

Six Democratic legislators are protesting the removal of Haines environmental activist Gershon Cohen from a state science panel that's working on cruise ship wastewater treatment issues.

Two senators and four representatives wrote Gov. Sean Parnell today. They said it appears Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Larry Hartig removed Cohen from the panel after members of the cruise industry complained about his appointment. The legislators suggested it’s an issue of First Amendment free speech rights.

“Our understanding is that Commissioner Hartig… informed Mr. Cohen he had been removed from the panel, because, in the commissioner’s words, Mr. Cohen would be “an advocate” for clean water. This is ironic because of the presence on the panel of others with the distinct responsibility of advocating on behalf of the cruise lines,” the legislators wrote.

Cohen was a co-sponsor of the 2006 initiative that put strict limits on cruise ship sewage discharge and a $50 per-passenger head tax on the industry. The Democratic legislators wrote that Cohen has a PhD and is uniquely qualified to be on the panel, something they said the Parnell administration acknowledged in a press release after appointing him last month.

Hartig told the Alaska Public Radio Network earlier this week that Cohen has spent years advocating his position, and he questioned Cohen’s ability to now take an independent look at the cruise ship wastewater treatment issues from srtictly an technological and economic perspective.

Sens. Bill Wielechowski and Hollis French signed the letter of protest, as did Reps. Beth Kerttula, Berta Gardner, Mike Doogan and Les Gara.