Archived press release

Mandelson "misled select committee"

1 December 2003

Peter Mandelson, the MP for Hartlepool, the constituency at the centre of the controversial "ghost ship" row, is being accused of misleading MPs during a recent appearance before the Select Committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Friends of the Earth has issued a public statement following evidence given by Mr Mandelson at an emergency hearing by the Committee of MPs to examine issues surrounding the import of 13 former American naval ships to Hartlepool for decommissioning, which involves the disposal of US hazardous waste in a UK landfill site.

The environmental group has said it took the unusual step of making a public statement due to what it calls "the serious nature of the allegations made by Mr Mandelson against Friends of the Earth", and in order to address several statements made by the Hartlepool MP which it believes were "factually and/or legally incorrect or misleading".

These include allegations by Peter Mandelson that information put forward by Friends of the Earth about the amount of hazardous chemicals within the ships was incorrect and the misleading suggestion that Friends of the Earth was at odds with fellow green-group Greenpeace, and that Greenpeace was not opposed to the import of the Ghost ships to Britain.

Friends of the Earth maintains the information it has put forward about the quantities of hazardous chemicals on board the ships is entirely accurate and comes directly from research commissioned for Able UK, the Teesside-based company hoping to dismantle the ships or from the US Government .

In addition, all statements about the poor condition of the ships and the threat posed to the environment directly refer to documents belonging to the ships owners, the American government's US Maritime Administration (MARAD).

Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth's Director, said:

"Friends of the Earth's reputation is based on accuracy - it is for this reason we feel the need to publicly correct Peter Mandelson's misleading statements. We would prefer to sit a round a table with Mr Mandelson to discuss this issue rather than him continuing to make unfounded allegations about Friends of the Earth. So far he has not taken up our offer to discuss this with him directly."

Notes

• Full details of Friends of the Earth's public statement: www.foe.co.uk/resource/evidence/response_mandelson.pdf(PDF format)

• Friends of the Earth and other environmentalists are calling on the UK Government to put in place a national policy on ship recycling.

• An independent assessment must identify either a safe facility to scrap the ships in the UK or allow the four ships to return to the US if deemed safe to travel.

• Hartlepool is currently not a safe option as there is no dry dock and there has not been an Environmental Impact Assessment regarding the effect of the ship recycling operation on the adjacent internationally protected wildlife sites.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust