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14/10/2006:// Surfers on Teeside are celebrating some campaign success this morning as Hartlepool Council yesterday rejected plans from Able UK to allow for the dismantling of the ‘Toxic Ghostships’ on Teeside.
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) had campaigned against the company’s proposal to dismantle the dilapidated vessels on Teeside. In particular we organised a demonstration outside Able UK’s headquarters in the autumn of 2003. That action saw us dump limbless dolls at their front gates to symbolize the inherent dangers to human health and the threats to the marine environment (and therefore local surf breaks) from dealing with the hazardous materials on board the 13 ex-US naval vessels.
The U.S. government had estimated that these ships, some of which were built as long ago as the Second World War, contained over 2000 tons of persistent and toxic PCBs and asbestos and over 6,000 tons of oil and oily ballast water! PCBs have been linked to birth defects and cancers if they are not disposed of correctly, and can produce liberates dioxins, among the most toxic and persistent chemicals known to man.
Whilst SAS believe there must be fully certified salvage yards capable of dismantling such vessels we considered it highly dangerous to transport them across the Atlantic from their home in the James River, Virginia, especially when US salvage companies were prepared to do the job. To allow 4 of the vessels to set sail to Hartlepool in 2003 when there was effectively no facility in place there to deal with the dismantling process was a scandalous decision.
Richard Hardy, SAS campaigns Director says: “We’re delighted at Hartlepool Council’s decision to reject plans to scrap former US naval vessels on Teesside. These vessels should never have left the US, where they should have been broken down locally and the toxic wastes offloaded and dealt with responsibly”.
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