[CPEO-MEF] Congress Approves Funds for Ship Scrapping

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

[The following was forwarded by Polly Parks.]

Oct 11, 2002

'Ghost fleet' money approved
House OKs funds to scrap some ships

BY ANDREW PETKOFSKY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER 

Money to scrap some of the most decayed and environmentally dangerous
ships in the James River "ghost fleet" was approved by the
House of Representatives yesterday.

The money - $20 million specifically earmarked for scrapping ships in the
James River Reserve Fleet - is part of the defense appropriations bill
reported out of a conference committee of the Senate and House of
Representatives Wednesday night, said Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va.

The House passed the $355.4 billion defense bill easily. Senate passage
is expected soon.
"This is something I've been working on for a long time,"
Warner said by telephone during yesterday's Senate floor debate on giving
the president authorization to pursue war on Iraq.

Warner has been at the forefront of efforts, along with other members of
Virginia's congressional delegation and the state government, to force
the federal government to remove the ghost fleet's most dangerous
ships.

The approximately 100 mothballed ships are anchored in the James River
off Fort Eustis in Newport News.

Seventy-one of the ships are slated for scrapping, officials said, and 16
are so deteriorated as to present a grave environmental danger should
they be damaged in a storm.

The ships contain fuel oil and other pollutants although, in some cases,
their hulls are rusting and growing weak.

"It is imperative that we work to protect Virginia's communities and
natural resources from potential harm," Warner said in a news
release. "We are only a hurricane or tropical storm away from a real
environmental disaster, and this funding will enable us to begin
eliminating that risk."

To view this article in its entirety please click on the following
URL:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/more/MGBD21TF57D.html




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aimee R.
Houghton                    
            
Associate Director, CPEO
1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036
tel: 202-452-8039; fax: 202-452-8095
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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