Archived press release

Ghost ships firm ducks environmental assessment challenge

18 September 2003

Able UK, the company proposing to import and scrap 13 ships from the US Ghost fleet, yesterday withdrew its planning application to build a dry dock wall in Hartlepool. Instead it says it will rely on an earlier planning permission granted in 1997 to allow it to build a "rock-filled bund", a proposal which the company acknowledges is less environmentally safe than the cofferdam it had applied to build. In taking this action only hours before a decision was due to be made by the Council, Able UK has avoided, for the time being, the need to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment into the risks posed by its proposal to internationally recognised wildlife sites.

Friends of the Earth has responded angrily to Able's announcement saying that the company "has stuck two fingers up to the environment and the public's right to be involved in environmental decision making". However, significant legal questions remain as to whether the previous planning permission remains in force and Friends of the Earth understands that Hartlepool Borough Council will be seeking urgent legal advice on this point.

The ships, which contain over 500,000 gallons of fuel and oil, have previously been classified as having a high potential to leak by the US Marine Administration [1] and posing a significant risk to the environment. The risk that this poses to US wildlife sites is one of the reasons why the Marine Administration is under pressure to remove the ships from the James River in Virginia [2]. The ships will travel through internationally protected wildlife sites in the UK and will be dismantled next to a wildlife site famous for its bird and seal population. US Government documents reveal that capacity exists in the USA to dismantle these ships [3]. Using these US shipyards would reduce the risk to UK wildlife sites and the risks posed to Irish, British, French and Belgium waters and coastlines from the ships as they are transported.

Friends of the Earth's Campaigns Director, Mike Childs, said:

"By trying to duck the challenge of carrying out an environmental impact assessment into their plans Able UK has stuck two fingers up to environmental protection and the public's right to be involved in environmental decision-making. This wheeze is a further indication of the environmental risks involved - if the company had really expected an assessment to produce a clean bill of health there would have been no reason to withdraw its application.

"We now look to Hartlepool Borough Council to ensure that these proposals do not go ahead without a full environmental impact assessment being carried out. We also look to the British, Irish, French and Belgium coastguards to prevent these boats entering European waters until those assessments are complete."

Notes

[1] see
www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/high_risk_of_toxic_ghost_s.html

[2] US Dept of Transportation, Maritime Administration; A report to congress on the program for scrapping obsolete national defense reserve fleet vessels, April 30, 2001.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust