Sinking feeling for PCB-laden ships

[dArKeR]

Thirteen rusting ships carrying 100 tons of PCBs remained docked in Virginia on Friday, after a federal judge blocked the U.S. government from having them towed to England to be dismantled.

THE U.S. Maritime Administration has not done environmental studies as required by law, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said in her ruling.
The administration had planned to begin moving the first of 13 ships, which contain about 3,000 tons of fuel, 100 tons of PCBs and some asbestos, this week. PCBs are a class of toxic chemicals banned in 1979.
Collyer said that she would not stop the removal of four ships, which the Coast Guard has said are seaworthy and can be safely towed 4,500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Environmental studies should be done on the remaining nine, she said.

‘GHOST FLEET’
The ships are part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, anchored along the James River near Newport News, Va. Dubbed by some as the “Ghost Fleet,” it contains about 100 large cargo and military-support ships, some of which could be called up and others that are set for dismantling.

http://msnbc.com/news/972158.asp?0cv=CB10

How much did we pay for these and how much income did they generate for us?

[bahrbearian]

1. Why are they going overseas, we could use the work here?

[madrchsod]

2. check out what the

brits have to say about this. check the bbc or guardian websites, one of them had an article about these ships and cargoes..they are full of toxic material that could poison the ocean for years....

[maxanne]

4. we could use the work here

I just heard an interview on NPR about this, with a guy who is fighting the departure of the ships. He said the ultimate goal of the Bushistas is to send ships like this to China, where they can take advantage of cheap labor. Of course, the laborers will get cancers and die - but so what?

This is just reprehensible. He also said they plan to have two of these contaminated vessels towed at a time by a functional ship, thereby increasing the potential for disaster, because one can crash into another quite easily. But it is cheaper to do it that way. It's only the North Atlantic. We've got plenty of other oceans. :eyes:

[electricmonk]

3. Newspaper article awhile back (a year or more ago)

Was talking about those ships and the fear of a hurricane hitting the Hampton Roads area but after Isabelle I never heard anything about them. I guess they came through ok if they had the bright idea to send them across the Atlantic.