Rusting, toxic 'ghost fleet' on way to UK

[PartyPooper]

John Vidal, environment editor
Wednesday September 3, 2003

< A fleet of 13 dilapidated US ships, heavily polluted with asbestos, oil and deadly PCBs, will embark on the 4,500-mile journey from America's east coast to Teesside in the next month amid warnings from salvage experts that they risk bringing an environmental disaster in their wake.

Seven years ago Bill Clinton ruled that the US navy's "ghost fleet" of 120 decomposing hulks could not be scrapped in developing countries because their pollution and toxic loads risked the lives of shipyard workers.

But a British company has signed a $17m (£10.8m) contract to dismantle the most fragile vessels at a dockyard near Hartlepool.>

more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,12188,1034598,00.html

[Systematic Chaos]

1. AMAZING how much sense this all makes.

Sheer f**cing genius!

So, are they going to have a carrier or something escorting these ships so that the crews on board can be removed to a safe place QUICKLY if one of them pulls a Titanic sans iceberg?

[Devils Advocate NZ]

2. Perhaps that is exactly what they are planning...

It seems so much cheaper to just scuttle these ships in deep water than to actually clean them up...

[shanti]

3. and nobody would be the wiser....

n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

9. That's a very common thing to do...

...although sometimes, they don't sink. Like this one:

...it didn't quite make it to the breakers.

[emad]

4. Many thanks for all this crap. Maybe the Brits can

reciprocate and send you something contaminated to detox by way of return- I'm sure we have some old crocks just waiting for a little reprocessing.......

[Briar]

5. Tony Blair, of course,

is happy for us to become one big landfill site for his mate George's rubbish. It proves how special the relationship and how enthusiastic a supporter of free market capitalism he is.

"The environment agency also defended its decision to approve the deal.

"There is free trade in waste for recovery under international and EU law," a spokesman said. "To obstruct it without valid reason would put the UK in breach of that law."

[emad]

6. You are definitely right about one thing -

the biggest landfill site for his mate george's rubbish is currently located at: Winfield House, Outer Circle, Regents Park, London NW1 and the toxic rubbish mouldering away in this priceless dump makes Saddam's poison gases seem like a breath of fresh air

[Gin]

7. Is this a dump site? What is at this location?

The address sounds like a residence.

[emad]

8. Yep, it's a dump alright, currently occupied by........

the portfolio manager of George Herbert Walker Bush's presidential blind trust - and now top shrubman at the US embassy in London - William Stamps Farish III and his wife Sarah Sharp Farish.

[realFedUp]

10. The Ronald Reagan in there?

.

[Gin]

11. Wow.. * and family stink up both sides of the globe.

gin