EPA orders cleanup of WWII-era ship
by Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
5 May 2004 (Vallejo, CA.) – A decommissioned World War II ship docked at Mare Island must be completely cleaned of contaminants before it is sent to China, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.
"Significant amounts" of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were found on the former transportation ship Crescent City, docked at the former naval shipyard. The 490-foot-long vessel, which participated in the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal, was scheduled to be sent to China last month for recycling.
The EPA told the vessel's owner, Sanship Inc., this week that it must properly remove and dispose of the toxic materials before the ship can be transported overseas. During a two-day inspection, the EPA collected more than 20 samples from the ship and identified PCB concentrations greater than 125, 000 parts per million.
E-mail Kelly St. John at kstjohn@sfchronicle.com.
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