[CPEO-MEF] California ship-scrapping "unfeasible"

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Local ship scrapping unfeasible

Cost, toxics deter Suisun Bay mothball fleet cleanup in California

By Thomas Peele
Contra Costa Times (CA)
July 15, 2007

With the Bay Area's abundant maritime traditions, major port facilities 
and former Navy bases, one might think that nearby disposal of obsolete 
government ships anchored in Suisun Bay would be easy:

Haul them someplace safe in Northern California. Cover them. Cut them 
into pieces. Recycle the steel, copper and other metals. Bury the 
asbestos, PCBs and other toxic waste in landfills. Move on to the next 
decrepit vessel.

So why has the U.S. Maritime Administration towed ships thousands of 
miles to Texas to dismantle them? There are several reasons:

* There are no active ship-scrapping yards from Seattle to San Diego. 
Oregon recently beat back attempts to start one there by passing a law 
requiring the work be done in dry docks.

* California is seen as too costly because of steep labor costs and 
strict environmental regulations.

* Building a new dry dock facility to dismantle ships is prohibitively 
expensive.

* Texas, meanwhile, welcomes the work. Companies there outbid 
competitors, even when 6,000 miles of ocean towing is built into the price.

So as the Maritime Administration and California regulators grapple with 
how to best dispose of 53 of the 74 Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet ships that 
have outlived their usefulness, there are no local options.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_6381645

--


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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