U.K. Environmental Agency wants MARAD's James River "Ghost Fleet" returned to U.S.

UK Environmental Secretary Margaret Beckett contends that the dismantling company's, Able UK, license to scrap the ships is invalid because the firm does not have permission to build a dry dock in Hartlepool.

MARAD says it "is aware of issues raised in a recent statement released by the U.K. Environment Agency and remains committed to responsible ship disposal solutions involving partners in the United States and abroad. As we work toward a resolution of these issues between the U.K. Environment Agency and Able UK, the ships will continue to transit the Atlantic."

Secretary Beckett said while the government ?believes that in the circumstances it would be preferable for the ships to be returned to the U.S. while the regulatory issues are solved,? she accepted U.S. contentions that turning them back immediately would be impractical. She said the two lead ships would be stored temporarily.

Friends of Earth, an environmental group, said that the WWII oil tankers, the Canistero and Caloosahatchee, each contain 34.1 tons of non-liquid PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which were used as electrical insulators (suspected of causing cancer) and 61 tons of asbestos.

Able UK spokesperson stated that the dismantling of the ships will bring 200 new jobs to the area that has seen decades of economic decline. The last Hartlepool shipyard closed in the 1960s. Most of the steelworks, the town?s other major employer, shut down in the 1980s.

The company disputes the environmental risks stated that it has dismantled oil rigs ?which contain a great deal more hazardous material than these ships could ever contain.

Environmental campaigners complain that whatever the economic benefits, these ships? pollution risk is too great, especially in an area that has already been scarred by heavy industry. Hartlepool, home to a nuclear power plant and chemical factories, has rates of asthma and childhood leukemia well above the national average.

The vessels are among nearly 100 ships, many more than 50 years old, anchored in Fort Eustis, VA., as part of the U.S. Navy?s Reserve Fleet. The fleet has been an environmental concern in Virginia for years, and nearly 70 ships are considered obsolete and ready to be scrapped.