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By Scott Harper, The Virginian-Pilot

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia, 18 May 2002 -- Gov. Mark R. Warner called the James River Reserve Fleet ``a potential environmental disaster'' on Friday and pledged to remove all 7.7 million gallons of fuel from the aging ships by 2006.

``What we've seen here this morning is alarming,'' Warner said after a short boat tour of the 97 mothballed vessels -- nicknamed the Ghost Fleet -- anchored off Fort Eustis in Newport News. ``It is truly apparent how serious a problem these ships are.''

Speaking at a marina overlooking the historic river, Warner said he would urge Congress to seek Coast Guard money to help remove petroleum wastes from the old ships, and will design an emergency plan in case the vessels break open and spill their toxic contents.

It was the first time a Virginia governor has gotten directly involved in the fate of the Ghost Fleet, the largest and oldest collection of reserve ships in the country.

The retired cargo and military support vessels, tied together like canned sardines, have grown increasingly flimsy with rust and the natural rub of the river in recent years. They have leaked at least eight times since 1997.

A government study released in November determined that if just two ships cracked opened in a major storm, a spill of heavy oil could extend some 50 miles, damaging sensitive shoreline and nature sanctuaries as well as key oyster and clam beds.

Those impacts, and why so little has been done to safely dispose of the fleet, were detailed in a series of articles last month in The Virginian-Pilot.

Warner's secretary of natural resources, W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., sent a draft agreement yesterday to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which manages the fleet, seeking a phased removal of petroleum from the 71 ships deemed obsolete because of their shoddy condition. Twenty-five ships would be drained per year until all were fully purged by January 2006, according to the proposed agreement.

Virginia has tried for two years to get the federal agency to sign such an accord. But the Maritime Administration has balked, arguing that the state has no legal authority to demand action based on Virginia environmental rules. The federal agency has also said it lacks the money to pump out fuel. It costs about $900,000 to remove petroleum from the belly of a ship.

Robyn Boerstling, a Maritime Administration spokeswoman in Washington, said Friday that the proposed agreement is being reviewed by staff lawyers and that no decision has been reached.

As a matter of policy, the Maritime Administration prefers to dispose of the whole ship instead of just remove its petroleum, Boerstling said, noting that the ships also contain lead paint, asbestos and toxic PCBs.

No one from the Maritime Administration, with local offices at Fort Eustis and Norfolk, participated in the boat tour Friday. Agency officials were invited but declined to attend.

Instead, the Virginia Marine Patrol led the tour, which included two boats full of reporters and photographers. Removing his tie, Warner climbed to the top of one state boat and asked questions of his environmental secretary about the age and condition of the steel hulks in front of him.

``I wanted to see them up close,'' he said. ``Not just for myself, but for the rest of the press to see as well. When the public sees how old these ships are and the potential environmental disaster they represent, it's pretty powerful.''

Warner said afterward that if the Maritime Administration does not sign the proposed agreement by this fall, he would ``use all legal means'' to force compliance.

``It's an overused phrase, but these really are ticking time bombs,'' he said.

President Bush has recommended spending $11 million next year to salvage reserve ships on the James River and in Texas and California. A House panel, pushed by Virginia representatives, has suggested $20 million.

And Virginia Sens. John W. Warner and George F. Allen have asked their colleagues to approve $40 million. ``I am pleased that Governor Warner has taken the interest in working with myself and the Hampton Roads delegation in removing the Ghost Fleet from the James River,'' U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-1st District, said in a statement Friday. ``The Ghost Fleet is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, and it is essential that we continue to take the necessary steps forward to address this growing problem.''

Most reserve ships used to be sold overseas and scrapped, earning the federal government a profit. In the mid-1990s, however, the practice all but stopped with passage of rules aimed at protecting foreign workers and ecosystems from American ship wastes.

In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton approved $10 million to offset the cost of scrapping rusting fleet ships at U.S. shipyards. No money was appropriated last year, despite a congressional mandate that the Maritime Administration safely dispose of all its obsolete vessels by September 2006.

Reach Scott Harper at 446-2340 or sharper@pilotonline.com