[CPEO-MEF] Ship Scrapping in court

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Earthjustice
News Release

Legal Challenge Keeping "Ghost Fleet" Ship Scrapping Jobs in the US

Export plan would violate law and common sense

October 15th, 2004

Washington, DC-- At the federal District Court in Washington DC today, 
an attorney representing conservation organizations argued that the Bush 
administration's plans to export ex-naval "ghost fleet" vessels from the 
James River in Virginia to Teesside, England for scrapping violates US 
and international laws that ban or regulate the export of toxics. The 
vessels contain many thousands of tons of carcinogenic, persistent 
organic pollutant PCBs, asbestos, used fuel, oils and other toxic 
substances. The national "ghost fleet" currently consists of over 125 
vessels, but will grow in coming years.

However, toxic trade watchdog group Basel Action Network (BAN), Sierra 
Club, and their counsel Earthjustice, note that as a result of the legal 
pressure and spotlight placed on this dubious export practice, more 
vessels are being released to domestic scrappers and no more plans for 
export have been openly discussed.

"The Bush Administration's original plan to export these vessels 
overseas was a stealth attempt to undermine international law," said Jim 
Puckett of BAN. "First, a few of these vessels would be shunted off to 
the UK, thereby setting the legal precedent to open the floodgates for 
exports to China, India, or Bangladesh where workers are getting cancer 
and the scrapping is done on the cheap. We're thrilled to see that so 
far our pressure has resulted in a Bush Administration flip-flop from 
callous disregard toward taking responsibility. Instead of dumping them 
on the rest of the world, we are increasingly seeing this toxic waste 
and these jobs stay at home as we turn these old swords into 
ploughshares of recycled steel."

In October 2003, the conservation and public health groups successfully 
prevented the export of nine of 13 hazardous waste-laden US naval 
vessels destined for disposal in England. The court did allow four 
vessels to cross the Atlantic in the fall of 2003 and those vessels now 
lay moored in legal limbo in Teesside, England because the intended 
scrap yard is not permitted to handle toxic waste. However, Judge 
Rosemary M. Collyer ordered that the remaining vessels in the contract 
remain in Virginia pending the court's final decision.

"The plan to scrap US vessels in England ignores the fact that American 
firms could do the job more safely," said Michael Town of the Sierra 
Club in Virginia. "Why didn't the Bush administration send this work to 
American ship breakers from the outset? We aren't sure, but hopefully 
the court will put an end to the administration's ill-conceived plan."

Toxics Law

Under the Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA), it is illegal to export 
PCBs, without a special EPA exemption granted after public hearings. 
Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and under a 
treaty between the US and England, it is illegal to export hazardous 
wastes unless the proposed receiving facility is properly licensed and 
the receiving nation has consented. Under NEPA, an environmental impact 
statement had to be prepared for the export scheme.

Today, the groups went back to court to ensure that the agency complies 
with all of these laws regarding the export of hazardous wastes and to 
put an end to the misguided export scheme once and for all.

US Ships, US Jobs

Since the court stopped the towing of the other nine vessels to England, 
MARAD has contracted with American ship breakers to scrap these and 
about two-dozen other high priority vessels stateside. So far, ship 
domestic breaking facilities that have received contracts for this work 
include:

    * Esco Marine - Brownsville, Texas

    * All Star Metals - Brownsville, Texas

    * Marine Metals - Brownsville, Texas

* North American Ship Recycling - Baltimore, MD

"The Bush administration is beginning to do the right thing with these 
ships - scrapping them domestically. But only after being blocked by a 
lawsuit from their plan to outsource US jobs and US responsibilities," 
said Martin Wagner, attorney for Earthjustice. "The best and safest plan 
is to scrap the Ghost Fleet here at home."

For the original press release, as well as supporting documents, go to
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=915

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org


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