Posted on 03/31/2010 7:17:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Reporting from San Francisco - After years of legal wrangling, the federal government agreed Wednesday to remove a fleet of mothballed military ships that has dropped tons of heavy metal pollution into a waterway northeast of San Francisco.
As part of a settlement with environmental groups, the U.S. Maritime Administration said it will remove 52 obsolete and decaying vessels -- nicknamed the Ghost Fleet -- from the estuary between the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Five others have been removed since November.
The agency plans to get rid of the 25 worst offenders in less than 2 1/2 years; the entire decaying armada is scheduled to be removed from Suisun Bay by September 2017. ..
"We are following through on our commitment to clean and maintain these vessels in an environmentally sound manner," said David Matsuda, acting administrator of the maritime agency. "We are moving expeditiously to remove the worst-polluting ships first and diligently moving to clean the rest."
Officials say it is likely that all of the ships will be towed out of the bay and recycled for scrap.
The ships already have shed more than 20 tons of heavy metals into the bay, including lead, zinc, copper and cadmium, said Michael Wall, chief litigator for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. If they are not cleaned up, they could lose as much as 50 tons more.
"Many of these ships have been moored there since the Vietnam War with no maintenance," said Wall, who estimates that the cleanup could cost more than $100 million. "The paint, loaded with heavy metals, has been flaking off and polluting the bay."
Congress issued three deadlines for the maritime agency to clean up the Ghost Fleet, Wall said, but the agency "violated all of them."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I like seeing them. They are cool. I’ll miss them.
Isn’t that where the climax of the Killer Elite took place?
saw them for the first time almost 35 years ago.. in their day, they helped this nation and its allies a force to be reckoned with. sad to see them go too.
How about we drop them all of at Pelosi’s backyard?
not sure how many films were made there.. could be.
Unlike most of the meaningless lawsuits filed by these groups (whose goal is to make the US less competitive and a third-world nation), I can agree with this one.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
....I used to see the James River componant of the Mothball fleet when I was stationed at Ft Eustis,VA...I liked seeing them also...there was even a 5-hatch Victory Ship from WWII that we trained on...without that baby England never would have held out against Hitler.
...I got a hunch those old ships aren’t really so bad for the environment...it’s just that the Lefties are so anti war and anti military....they don’t like seeing them.
What will happen to the most famous ship there - the USS Iowa?
When we lived in Berkeley many years ago, we used to drive by them when we drove up by the Delta. They were spooky, all lined up at anchor in the water. Dressed in grey and no place to go.
Truk Lagoon...the ecofacsits looove this dive destination. Lead, asbestos, diesel fuel.....nuckin futz!
vob
I was an engineer at Mare Island and lived in Benicia. I always like seeing them while tooling around the area.
When I visited Truk in ‘75, there were still rusting landing craft of some sort on the hotel beach. Very out of the way back then, though.
fascists...long day indeed.
vob
Probably sell them as scrap to China who will melt them down and build new ships out of them, with which to build a navy to dominate the Pacific.
You witnessed the aftermath of history that is no longer being taught. Keep those memories cherished and share them.
vob
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