Co-editors: Seán Mac Mathúna • John Heathcote
Consulting editor: Themistocles Hoetis
Field Correspondent: Allen Hougland
A Ghost Fleet of 13 rotting,
toxic US warships, banned from the Third World by Bill Clinton,
is to be towed from a now-polluted river in Virginia to be scrapped
and buried in North East England. The company who have the contract
(Able UK) will receive a whole oil tanker for dismantling and
dumping at least 70 ships around Teeside, rubbish that US authorities
obviously do not want on their half-continent sized piece of land.
* Able UK signed a contract
on 28 July 2003 worth £16 million with the US Marine Administration
(Marad) to dismantle 13 obsolete warships in Hartlepool. The 13 ships, at least 11,000 tons
each of metal poisoned with cancer-causing PCB's and stuffed with
asbestos, are being brought from the James River US Naval dump
to Teesside next month. Condemned as 'ticking time-bombs'
by US transport officials, the hulks are being towed the 4000
miles across the Atlantic, through the narrow Pentland Firth between
the mainland and Orkney, and down Scotland's east coast; to be
delivered to a company called Able UK, who will take them apart
and bury the waste in landfill sites near Hartlepool. Seventy of the 94 warships, tankers,
bulk carriers and tank transporters - which were part of the National
Defense Reserve Fleet - have been officially condemned; and all
are decaying, and causing widespread pollution, in James River,
Virginia. Some have been there for over 40 years. President Clinton (the last legitimate,
ie. popularly elected, US president) had banned the export of
the hulks to any Third World country, fearing that his zealous
business-bureacracy military would offload the American garbage
by bribing some craven, corrupt government of an impoverished
client state to accept them; poisoning the land and people of
some faraway banana republic for countless generations to come. Scotland's
Sunday Mail reported Greenpeace's
international toxic and demolition expert Frank Petersen said:
"America is using Britain as a dumping
ground. We have a huge concern it could be the start of a nightmare.
If they were to sink off Iceland, Scotland or the Faroes, there
would be a terrible environmental impact." Scotland's Deputy First Minister
Wallace said: "Any threat to the environment from this plan
would give rise to serious concerns for Scotland and in particular
Orkney. As a constituency MSP, I am asking our own environment
department and also the UK government about what environmental
safeguards would be in place." The only politician to query the
deal in the British Parliament has been Orkney and Shetland
MP Alistair Carmichael The Minister for Transport, David Jamison
MP, wrote to the Northern Isles MP on 28 July stating that no
application to enter the UK Pollution Control Zone - which includes
the Pentland Firth - has been received by the Government. In order
to secure permission to travel in UK waters a risk assessment,
which includes an evaluation of the impact on the local environment,
has to be undertaken. Mr Carmichael said: "In response to Parliamentary
Questions I tabled, and in a letter I received from David Jamison
MP today, the Government have made it quite clear that an environmental
assessment has be carried out before any decision is made as to
whether these ships can travel in UK waters. "I therefore think
it is premature at this stage for Able UK and the US Marine Administration
to reach an agreement on the dismantling of these ships. As I
understand it, the UK Government have yet to receive even an application
to enter the UK Pollution Control Zone. "The investigation into
the Multi-tanker Ascania accident in 1999 concluded that an alternative
to accepting the risk associated with loaded chemical tankers
is to keep these vessels away from areas where the risk is considered
to be unacceptable. Given that these ships are believed to be
carrying asbestos and toxic PCBs then a very thorough investigation
into the safety of this proposal is vital before any decision
is made. "The fact that a contract has been entered into must
not be used as a lever to put undue pressure on the Department
of Transport to grant permission for these ships to travel in
UK waters." " Here, in contrast is a business
press release from http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/ A Teesside firm looks set to
sign the world's biggest recycling contract which will bring 200
jobs to the area, the Gazette can reveal. Able UK could soon land
a "phenomenal" deal to dismantle 13 US former naval ships from
a massive obsolete fleet moored in the US, known as the Ghost
Fleet. The US Maritime Administration said the contract with the
Billingham-based firm, their preferred option, could be signed
by the end of the week. And if successful it could mean an
indefinite supply of work from the ever-growing
pool of obsolete ships moored in US waters. ...... Robyn Boerstling, spokeswoman
for the US Maritime Administration, said: "Everything has pretty
much been negotiated but there's some details that need to be
worked out. We have an immediate need to get rid of a large number
of ships all at once and this facility has that capability.These
are relatively old ships, but most of the hulls are in good condition.
They have undergone a tow safety survey to ensure that they could
make the tow across to the facility on Teesside." Well, that's comforting. In
their word, we can no doubt, put our trust. . .
Flame
asks;
Have the local people been consulted ? Why
does there seem to be some
sort of news grey-out on this subject? Is there any connection between
the area the ships are being dumped in, and the presence of two
local and very powerful BAP MPs (British American Project, Tony
Blair and Peter Mandelson)? A single article in the Sunday
newspaper 'The Observer' on July 27th 2003 and another in (Scotland's)
Sunday Mail are all that mark the lowest point yet in the use
of the British Isles as the United States' own Airstrip One; the
British armed forces as US mercenaries; and the land itself as
a money laundering heritage-park. Ultimately, all a country really
posesses in perpetuity is the land and a healthy population; so
why do we have a Government prepared to risk both, so that a wealthy
clique, who will live nowhere near the poison they are importing,
can enjoy the benefits of our 'special relationship' to Uncle
Sam. All I can say is I'm glad I
don't live in Teeside, and if I did, I'd sure as hell have some
questions to ask my local MPs (are you there Mr. Mandelson, Mr
Blair) as to why my childrens' children will be playing in the
toxic dust of US war debris. But
hey, the way things are going, we won't be here anyway. It'll
just be rats, cockroaches and a few paranoid Texans huddled in
their subterranean bunkers waiting for the Rapture.
