U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, a vocal critic of the cruise industry, said he was “horrified” by the Carnival Triumph ordeal and asked the U.S. Coast Guard for details on the costs of its response and investigation. In a letter to Admiral Robert Papp, commandant of the Coast Guard, Rockefeller asked if the Coast Guard would seek reimbursement from Carnival.

“This horrible situation involving the Carnival Triumph is just the latest example in a long string of serious and troubling incidents involving cruise ships,” Rockefeller said. “Safety must be the number one priority in any transportation industry. It is time that the cruise line industry—which earns more than $25 billion a year—pays for the costs they impose on the government since it’s the Coast Guard that comes to the rescue every single time something goes wrong on a cruise ship.”

Rockefeller held Commerce Committee oversight hearings in March 2012 to examine the cruise industry’s compliance with federal safety, security, and environmental standards and review whether cruise ship industry regulations sufficiently protect passengers and the environment. He also grilled CLIA President and CEO Christine Duffy about why cruise lines don’t pay corporate income taxes. “As I remarked then, [cruise lines] seem to have two lives: one is at port, where the Coast Guard can monitor their operations; the other is at sea where, it appears, once they are beyond three nautical miles from shore the world is theirs,” he wrote. “The Carnival Triumph incident only serves to further validate this view.”

Rockefeller said he expects to be fully briefed when the investigation by the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board is complete.