US Allows Four of 13 Contaminated Ships to Sail to Britain
by Bloomberg
3 October 2003 – The first four decommissioned U.S. naval ships in a so-called Ghost Fleet laden with toxic chemicals can sail to the U.K. to be scrapped, a court in Washington has ruled, rejecting a request by environmental groups for a temporary restraining order barring the voyage.
The Basel Action Network and the Sierra Club say the 13 ships in the aging fleet, some built in the mid-1940s, could break up at sea, spilling their cargo of about 100 tons of polychlorinated biphenyls, as well as asbestos and marine diesel oil. They sued the U.S. Maritime Administration, alleging export of the ships from the James River in Virginia from would violate U.S. environmental-protection laws.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer yesterday denied a request for a ban on the export of the four ships, which include the Canisteo and Caloosahatchee, vessels she said are in ``dangerously deteriorating condition,'' according to the court's Web site. The Coast Guard deemed the ships seaworthy. The fate of the nine other vessels will be determined at a hearing Oct. 20.
``Clearly the judge is concerned, but the Bush administration is still being allowed to begin a needlessly risky venture that puts the health of the global environment and two coastal communities in serious jeopardy,'' said Jim Puckett of BAN in a statement on the group's Web site.
The rusting ships are destined for the northeastern English city of Hartlepool, a 4,000-mile (6,436-kilometers) journey, after which they will be scrapped and their cargo of PCBs, a carcinogen, disposed of safely by Able UK. The company, which won a 16 million- pound ($27 million) contract for the work, says the scrapping plan is safe.
It isn't clear when the ships will begin the voyage.
The Sierra Club says the work can be done in Virginia, sparing possible damage to the global environment, including the ecosystems of Chesapeake Bay, according to BAN's Web site.
U.K. Assessment
The U.K.'s Environment Agency this week asked the U.S. to delay the export until it completes an assessment of the possible impact of the ships on the environment. The British environmental lobbying group Friends of the Earth condemned the plan as ``dangerous and unnecessary.''
The Maritime Administration had planned to have the ships under way on Sept. 30, to avoid the heavy seas of the North Atlantic storm season.
The ships will avoid the Channel's busy shipping lanes by sailing around Scotland and down the North Sea to reach Hartlepool, prompting Irish and Scottish leaders to raise concerns over possible damage to their coastlines, the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper reported last month.
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