Ship Export Deal Declared Illegal by UK

Following legal action by Friends of the Earth UK, the UK Environment Agency has announced that the authorizations issued to allow the British firm Able UK to import and dismantle 13 former US naval vessels in Hartlepool, UK are invalid. Environmental groups as well as ship recyclers in the United States have been raising serious questions about the appropriateness and legality of the scheme for months.

"We've said all along this export deal was illegal and a dangerous, reckless environmental precedent," said Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network. "Governments on both sides of the Atlantic were not willing to face up to their responsibilities as custodians of the public trust until environmental groups shined a spotlight on this misguided scheme and dragged them kicking and screaming into their respective courthouses."

"We have the technology right here in Virginia to recycle the ships in the Ghost Fleet safely," said Michael Town, director of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. "Here is another example of the Bush administration trying to make an end run around the public. This time, the attempt failed and now these leaky toxic ships may be forced back across the Atlantic Ocean. If so, the Bush administration must make sure they go directly to a safe recycling facility, not sit on the James River for decades."

Several U.S.-based ship recyclers have asked Congress why their bids for the recycling contracts were ignored. The General Accounting Office has agreed to launch an investigation.

A U.S. judge has thus far issued a temporary restraining order blocking nine of the 13 vessels and allowing four to sail. MARAD has since agreed not to export any more of these vessels before first assessing the environmental risks. Meanwhile, the first four vessels are somewhere in the North Atlantic. What will happen next with these four vessels remains uncertain. They lack permission to enter UK waters and it is therefore likely they will be forced to return to the United States.

While the environmentalists believe that the four wayward vessels should be returned to the United States as soon and as safely as possible, this should only be done under the following conditions:

-- The return voyage should not be in tandem.

-- The ships should be towed directly to a US shipbreaking facility.

-- The return voyage should only occur if weather conditions are very favorable.

-- An emergency response vessel should escort the four vessels for the entire return voyage.