11 February 2003 (Virginia, USA) – Federal maritime officials are asking regulators to relax export restrictions so that they can dispose of the James River Reserve Fleet's rusting ships at foreign scrap yards.

The U.S. Maritime Administration asked the Environmental Protection Agency to relax restrictions on the export of ships that contain toxic materials so that it can speed the disposal of the mothballed Virginia fleet - sometimes referred to as the Ghost Fleet - and similiar obsolete vessels in Texas and California.

No decision has been made, officials in Washington said Monday. But environmental groups, including Greenpeace, already are protesting the idea.

Robyn Boerstling, a Maritime Administration spokeswoman, said the agency has received more than 60 suggestions for disposing of unwanted ships, including requests from countries in Asia, Europe and North America to dismantle hulks there. She declined to say which countries have submitted proposals.

Boerstling downplayed environmental criticism of the agency's request for an exception to export rules. She said that any resumption of foreign scrapping would be "on a very limited basis."

An EPA spokeswoman in Washington said the two agencies have met only informally on the issue. The Maritime Administration "certainly would have a lot of work to do" before any ship could be sent overseas, she said.

Another factor in the debate is the Basel Convention. This gathering of shipping nations has decided that vessels sent outside host countries for scrapping must be free of toxic materials.

The United States has not ratified the Basel Convention and its no-toxics policy. However, the federal government is tied to the same restriction by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

That law prohibits the export or import of vessels containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs - used as insulation in generators and other machinery - unless "a good-faith effort" has been undertaken to safely get rid of the materials, or their disposal would pose "an unreasonable risk" to human health and the environment, according to the EPA spokeswoman.

Asian shipyards once scrapped surplus American vessels, which often contain lead paint and asbestos as well as PCBs. But regulations adopted during the Clinton administration ended the practice because of a concern that America was exporting toxic pollution to underdeveloped countries.

Since then, the Maritime Administration has struggled to get rid of the decaying ships before they spring leaks and cause environmental harm.