A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
October 30, 2007
1. Top Item
Groups sue over mothball fleet; Environmentalists want government to safely dispose of toxic material in ships in Suisun Bay
Contra Costa Times – 10/30/07
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
Environmentalists on Monday sued to force the federal government to clean up toxic material in its decaying fleet of ships near
Citing a recent study that showed the ships east of the Benicia Bridge have shed as much as 18 tons of metals into Suisun Bay, the environmental groups said the decaying ships present an entirely unregulated threat to the environment and to human health.
"If a corporation were to float a rusty barrel of hazardous waste out there, that would be against the law," said Michael Wall, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The federal government has to comply with the same laws."
Specifically, the lawsuit seeks to force the Maritime Administration to safely dispose of the metals, PCBs, oil, asbestos and other toxic materials on the ships.
It also seeks to force the agency to conduct an environmental impact study of its management plan for the three fleets. Such a study would analyze the environmental effects of maintaining and disposing of the ships and would result in developing management and disposal methods.
"We want them to stop polluting Suisun Bay by addressing the (peeling) paint first and then finding an environmentally responsible way to dispose of the ships, preferably in the Bay Area," said Saul Bloom of the San Francisco environmental group Arc Ecology, which monitors pollution at federal facilities.
The lawsuit follows stories in the Times during the past 18 months that detailed the ships' pollution problems.
Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton issued a statement saying the agency would prepare a response detailing the government's "ongoing and extensive efforts to ensure the safety of these vessels."
"The best way, ultimately, to protect the
The Maritime Administration is responsible for the mothballed ships of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, the bulk of which are in
The ships are decaying. To move them to a disposal facility, their hulls must be scrubbed clean to ensure organisms growing on them do not infest other waters. That cleaning threatens to flake off more toxic material.
The state's top water quality regulator for
"Since the state agencies involved have not yet been able to get (the Maritime Administration) to take action to stop the discharges from the mothball fleet, we welcome other parties getting involved," said Bruce Wolfe, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.
In a later phone conversation, Wolfe said that because the ships have been essentially unregulated for years, no one knows how much pollution is coming from them.
Does the fleet affect the Bay as much as a refinery or a sewage treatment plant?
"That's something we don't have good information on. But I would not be surprised," he said.
Although the Maritime Administration announced this summer that it plans to resume ship disposal, those plans are on hold.
Wolfe said the federal agency has agreed to delay disposal of
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in
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