[CPEO-MEF] two ship-disposal articles

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Judge clears 9 reserve fleet ships for disposal in Great Britain
 
BY DAVID LERMAN 
Daily Press (VA)
March 3, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge ruled Wednesday night that nine more
"ghost ships" from the James River Reserve Fleet may be sent to England
for disposal, dismissing the complaints of environmentalists on largely
technical grounds.

The long-awaited court ruling marks a major victory for the U.S.
Maritime Administration, which is struggling to dispose of more than 100
obsolete, environmentally hazardous ships.

The maritime agency, known as MARAD, has said it must be permitted to
scrap ships overseas because there is not enough capacity in domestic
yards to do all the work. Some domestic scrappers dispute that claim.

Environmentalists alleged that exporting the ships violates the Toxic
Substances Control Act, which bans the export of cancer-causing
polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. They also claimed that sending ships
overseas would violate the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which
governs the handling of hazardous waste.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-75888sy0mar03,0,6913005.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews


Agency finds faults in ship disposal plan

A government watchdog suggests poor management is hindering "ghost
fleet" disposal efforts.

BY DAVID LERMAN 
Daily Press (VA)
March 3, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Maritime Administration has used an unauthorized
process for awarding ship disposal contracts and will fail to meet a
congressional mandate to rid the James River and other waters of
obsolete ships by next year, a federal watchdog agency has concluded.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress,
is preparing to issue what amounts to a scathing indictment of the
maritime agency's ship disposal program, which is responsible for
removing environmentally hazardous, obsolete merchant ships - known as
the "ghost fleet" - from U.S. waters.

The program, the GAO found, suffers from "long-standing management
weaknesses" that leave it unable to develop a comprehensive strategy for
disposing of the ships, according to a draft report obtained by the
Daily Press.

The report says the maritime agency, known as MARAD, failed to request
adequate funding to dispose of ships; lacks the vision and management
skills to make "sound decisions"; and used a contracting process that is
"inconsistent" with federal law, leading to a "lack of transparency" in
contract bidding.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-75867sy0mar03,0,5012458.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews

-- 


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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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