The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported the former USS Crescent City was to be sent to China last month, but two days of tests of oil, paint, gaskets and electrical cables on the ship showed excessive amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

The EPA's Toxic Substances Control Act prohibits the export of materials containing more than 50 parts per million of PCBs. Samples on the ship showed there were concentrations of PCBs greater than 125,000 parts per million.

'We shouldn't transfer hazardous materials to other countries that may not be as well equipped or trained to deal with these materials,' said Enrique Manzanilla of the EPA's Pacific Southwest region.

The EPA and the ship's owner, Sanship Inc. of Brownsville, Texas, are discussing how to properly dispose of the PCBs.

Max Weintraub, PCB coordinator for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region, said the PCB-tainted items could be taken off the ship and disposed in a hazardous waste landfill or incinerator before the ship is sent to China or elsewhere, or the ship can be completely scrapped here.

China, however, is paying the most money right now for scrap steel, Weintraub said.

Two hundred decommissioned ships contain hazardous materials including PCBs, asbestos and lead-based paints in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet and the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia, Weintraub said.

The sampling on the former USS Crescent City was limited and items, including oil, that contained liquid PCBs were removed.

'We were looking for solids,' Weintraub said.

The Basel Action Network in Seattle and Earthjustice in Oakland both reported today they had threatened to take legal action to halt the export of the ship to China.

'We are very satisfied that the Environmental Protection agency in Region IX has acted with a sense of urgency and responsibility to uphold the law and prevent our country from passing its toxic burdens to laborers and environments in other countries. Now we need to ensure that the EPA shows similar responsibility with government-owned ships,' said Marcello Mollo of Earthjustice.

Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network said, 'We should not be in the business of outsourcing toxic waste or jobs that can be done safely at home.'

Officials with Basel Action Network and Earthjustice said a suitable ship scrapping yard should be established on the West Coast to decontaminate and recycle West Coast oil platforms and ships moored in Suisun Bay.

The former USS Crescent City is 490 feet long, weighs 8,500 tons and was used during World War II to transport troops and supplies. Between 1971 and 1995 the ship was used for training exercises at the California Maritime Academy.

More than 1.5 billion pounds of PCBs were manufactured in the United States before the EPA banned the chemical in 1978. PCBs were commonly used in paints, oil, insulation, industrial equipment, rubber products and plastic and tests showed they caused cancer in animals and adversely affected the nervous, immune and endocrine systems.