Human Rights and the Environment

Case Study: Export of Toxic Ghost Ships

Country: United States, England

Region: Europe, North America

Issues: Toxics, Litigation

In September 2003, environmental and public interest groups on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean brought legal actions to prevent the export of toxic-laden ships from the United States to England. Two groups in the United States, Basel Action Network (BAN) and Sierra Club, filed suit in US Federal Court to stop the US Maritime Administration and the US Environmental Protection Agency from sending 13 toxic "Ghost Fleet" naval vessels from the James River in Virginia across the Atlantic Ocean to Teesside, England, for scrapping. The export of these ships is widely seen as a test-run for a larger project to export many more obsolete US vessels to developing countries where standards to protect workers and the environment from the toxic materials onboard are nearly non-existent.[1]

After an emergency hearing in October, the judge ordered that nine of these PCB and asbestos-laden ships could not leave until the government assessed the environmental risks associated with their export to England. The government agreed to conduct an environmental review before a second hearing, scheduled for April 2004, to determine whether the nine ships will be allowed to go. The remaining four ships were permitted to leave port in mid-October, although they have not received the appropriate permits from the British government. Following legal actions by Friends of the Earth UK, the English authorities have declared invalid the permits required to import and dismantle the ships leaving the ships in legal limbo until environmental standards are met in the US and England.[2]

The 13 ships are in serious states of deterioration with several of them already having leaked oil into the James River. According to the government's own estimates the 13 vessels in this deal are contaminated with 700 tons of persistent and toxic PCBs, 1,400 tons of asbestos, and over 3,000 tons of waste fuel oils. Transporting these ships, some of which are in such bad condition that their hulls can be cracked with a hammer, presents serious risk that these materials will be released into the environment. Loud protests over the wisdom of this toxic export from an environmental and an economic standpoint have been voiced on both sides of the Atlantic.[3]

[1] See Earthjustice, PCB Ghost Ships: Transfer to England Brings Challenge, at http://www.earthjustice.org/urgent/display.html?ID=155 (last visited Mar. 9, 2004).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

Last Updated: 09/09/05