Archived press release

United states 'ghost' ships: urgent evidence session

18 November 2003

The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) will today (Weds 19 Nov) meet urgently to take evidence about the issues surrounding the import of the US Ghost Ships and decisions made by the Government and regulators in relation to the ships.

The Committee has invited the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to give oral evidence, along with Peter Mandelson, MP for Hartlepool. Friends of the Earth, has submitted written evidence to the Committee.

Friends of the Earth hopes that the Committee will address the following issues:

• Why legal exemptions were granted by the US and British Governments to allow America to export, and the UK to import, ships containing hazardous waste to be disposed of in the UK.

Note: In the USA it is illegal to export PCBs (either liquid or solid) above 50ppm. In this case the US Marine Administration Authority (MARAD) obtained a guarantee from the US Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) that it wouldn't be prosecuted if ships from the ghost fleet were sent to Able UK in Hartlepool. The USEPA granted the Exemption on 22 May 2003. Normally it is illegal to import asbestos into the UK. The UK Health and Safety Executive decided to grant an Exemption on 25 July 2003.

• What role, if any, did Peter Mandelson, MP, play in the above legal exemption being granted allowing American asbestos waste to be imported into the UK?

• Has Peter Mandelson, MP, read the full MARAD reports concerning the inherent environmental risks posed by the fleet?

• Why were any vessels allowed to leave the US before all the necessary permissions were in place and despite MARAD having explicitly been warned that the permissions were not in place?

• Why did the Environment Agency wait until 31 October 2003 before formally stating that the licences granted by them were invalid when they had written to MARAD four weeks earlier warning that this might be the case?

• Why ships three and four, (Canopus and Compass Island), were allowed to continue to Hartlepool despite Barbara Young stating on 4 November that they should immediately turn around and stating that the Agency had formally requested MARAD to order them to do so.

• Why the Environment Agency didn't identify that the waste management licence held by Able UK did not cover the disposal of ships?

• The official assessment of the threat to internationally important wildlife sites posed by work on the ghost ships at Able UK site.

Note: Friends of the Earth and the RSPB previously called for a full Environmental Impact Assessment to take place before the ships can be allowed near these sites and before the dam can be built that is necessary for the dry dock.

The Oral Evidence Session will be organised as follows:

14:30pm (approx) Rt Hon Peter Mandelson MP
15:00pm (approx) Barbara Young, Chief Executive, Environment Agency
15:45pm (approx) Elliot Morley MP, Minister for Environment and Agri-Environment, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Committee was due to take evidence on 19 November in relation to its inquiry into the Marine Environment. That evidence session will be re-arranged, and the new session will be announced in due course.

Notes

The USA has not signed the key international treaty on the movement and disposal of hazardous waste across the World, the Basel Convention, which says developed countries should deal with their own hazardous waste if they have the facilities. US documents say US shipyards are able to deal with all ships in the US "ghost fleet".

The Basel Convention also outlaws developed countries dumping toxic waste in developing countries.

When Bill Clinton was President he passed a law saying these ghost ships must not be exported for scrapping because of the environmental risks. George Bush overturned this law when he became President.

Friends of the Earth has relied at all times on US Government documents in carrying out its assessment of the threat these ships may pose to the environment. All such documents are available from Friends of the Earth.

Friends of the Earth believes that while it is better to dispose of these ships in the UK rather than in developing countries, environmental good policy and common sense requires that these ships are disposed of in the USA. Friends of the Earth and US environmental campaigners are also concerned that allowing these boats to be scrapped outside of the States sets a dangerous precedent which makes it more likely that future ghost fleet ships will be dumped on developing countries' beaches.

The ship in the US "Ghost Fleet" destined for the UK containing the highest quantity of toxic waste has been given permission by the Government to go to be moored in Hartlepool until its future is decided.

The structure of the "Canopus" is made up of more than 500 tonnes of toxic materials. It will arrive in Hartlepool along with "Compass Island". Between them the structures of the two ships contain more than 800 tonnes of American toxic waste - with more than 500 tonnes of asbestos and 300 tonnes of solid PCBs set to be buried locally in a Hartlepool landfill site - on UK soil.

The UK does not as yet have the facilities to dismantle these ships in a dry dock. This point has also been made by Barbara Young, the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust