U.S. Ghost Ships Arouse Official European Opposition

BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 14, 2003 (ENS) - The top European Union environment official has publicly denounced the towing of obsolete ships from the United States across the Atlantic Ocean for scrapping in England. EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom Monday questioned the legal basis for the deal, and said she would write letters to both governments opposing it.

In London to deliver a speech on the proposed EU chemicals regime for the Greenpeace Business Lecture Series, Wallstrom said, "I think they should keep the ships in the U.S. Why should they drive them across the Atlantic? It seems to me too much of an environmental risk."

Two of the old ships from the James River Naval Reserve Fleet in Virginia, known as the Ghost Fleet, began their journey across the ocean on October 6, and two more are set to leave shortly.

European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom (Photo courtesy The European Commission)

Ghost Fleet ships were built between 40 and 60 years ago, in an era when the use of PCBs, lead paint and asbestos was commonplace, and the entire fleet of about 130 vessels is contaminated with these chemicals.

Environmental groups on both sides of the ocean oppose the shipment out of concern that the ships will break apart in transit, spilling toxic chemicals into the ocean.

Wallstrom said Monday, "It doesn't make any sense to take that risk by sending these apparently very hazardous ships and old ones, also leaking hazardous substances into the James River in America, to England.

She proposed that European ship breaking experts teach Americans how to handle the decaying vessels. "We can assist them in dealing with these ships and how to break them up and recover them. But keep them there, don't send them here," Wallstrom said.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) arranged for the four ships to leave after a U.S. federal judge ruled October 2 that two U.S. environmental groups did not have sufficient grounds for a restraining order to halt the sailing.

But the federal judge blocked the government from moving nine of 13 ships from the Ghost Fleet to England, saying MARAD had not done environmental studies as required by several federal laws.

Able UK has signed a 16 million pound deal to dismantle all 13 ghost ships at its Graythorp yard at Teesside, England. But the UK authorities have not given Able the green light to construct a drydock where the ships can be scrapped.

Part of the James River Naval Reserve Fleet (Photo courtesy MARAD)

Last week, Craig McGarvey, the UK Environment Agency's north east area manager, said that planning permission for the construction of a dry dock does not exist.

"If the boats are allowed into Teesside, and they can't be dealt with in a dry dock, they will be pose a significant pollution threat to the local wildlife sites important for their populations of knot, redshank, shelduck and other birds," said Friends of the Earth.

Friends of the Earth's Campaigns Director Mike Childs said, "This whole issue is fast becoming a sorry farce. Able UK does not have planning permission to build a dry dock to dispose of these boats, and it won't be allowed to deal with them in a wet dock. Yet two heavily polluted, rusty and dilapidated ships have been allowed to set sail from the USA to Teesside, and two more are due to leave any minute."

"It's about time the environment and people of Teesside were put before the interests of those seeking to benefit from the international trade in toxic waste," Childs said.

"These boats must not be allowed into UK waters until all the issues have been resolved," he said. "Better still, the U.S. should be forced to deal with its own toxic legacy, rather than dumping these ships abroad."

The Teesside Environmental Recycling and Reclamation Centre near the mouth of the River Tees includes a 10 hectare dry dock and wet basin the largest in Europe. (Photo courtesy Able UK)

The vessels included in the contract have been surveyed in detail, said Stephenson, and they will be cleared as seaworthy by the Independent Surveyors and the U.S. Coast Guard before they are moved to the Teesside Environmental Recycling and Reclamation Centre (TERRC) located on the Seaton Channel close to the mouth of the River Tees in southeast England.

The route the controversial vessels will take in British waters is also at issue. Scotland object to the ships entering its coastal waters, fearing that this and any future convoys would threaten sensitive marine environments that are difficult to navigate, such as the Pentland Firth. Therefore, the planned route is through the English Channel.

Able assures nervous parties that the Ghost Fleet vessels have been inspected and approved by Lloyds of London, which is providing insurance for the towing operation.

“TERRC 25 acre dry dock is large enough to moor all 13 vessels, and once they have arrived, the dock will be drained and sealed, allowing the safest possible conditions for disposal," Stephenson said. "This operation is similar to the work we have been undertaking for many years.”

Not reassured, Caroline Lucas, the Green Party Member of the European Parliament representing the affected district in the southeast of England, has lodged an official complaint with the European Commission. The complaint filed on October 8 alleges three separate infringements of European Union law by the transfer to the UK of the ghost ships.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party Member of the European Parliament for southeast England (Photo courtesy Office of the MEP)

Environment Commissioner Wallstrom will investigate the deal under the Waste Shipment Regulation, which requires any ship recovery work to be carried out in an "authorized center" in line with "environmentally sound management."

This regulation, binding under EU law, could be breached if Able UK were to dismantle the ships in wet dock having failed to secure planning permission for a dry dock facility, which Dr. Lucas and environmental organizations argue would be a necessary to meet the requirement for environmentally sound management.

Wallstrom will also investigate possible breaches of the Waste Framework Directive, a law which requires the UK to ensure waste disposal does not endanger human health or the environment.

In addition, EU officials will examine the UK government's failure to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment on the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast, a wildlife habitat enjoying EU special protection.

MEP Lucas, also a member of the European Parliament's Environment Committee, warned, "If we have learned any lessons from the Erica and Prestige disasters it must be that Europe must investigate the threat of oil spills before the ships concerned leave their port of origin, not after another coastline has been buried in deadly waste. The U.S. has the capacity and the expertise to dispose of its own contaminated military junk, and should do so itself."