Posted on 06/28/2002 6:39:58 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
WASHINGTON -- Senators joined the House of Representatives on Thursday in backing a $20 million plan to clean up the worst of the James River's ``Ghost Fleet'' of decrepit merchant ships.Senators authorized the Navy to shift the needed funds to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which would oversee the project. Plans call for scrapping 135 ships; 73 of those are moored in the James near Fort Eustis in Newport News.
The money for the project is to be provided in separate legislation.
Twenty-three of the ships in the James are considered ``high risk.''
That means their hulls have rusted or corroded to the point that large amounts of oil or other hazardous substances still aboard could be released into the river.
The Maritime Administration has the rest of the ships moored near Beaumont, Texas, and in the Suisun Bay, near Benicia, Ca.
``A growing number of regulators, marine inspectors, environmentalists and workers who oversee the ghost fleet suggest that an environmental disaster is likely -- if not imminent,'' said U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va.
Warner praised workers trying to contain leaks from tanks inside the ships but said ``they are fighting a losing battle.'' The Maritime Administration is spending about $2.7 million annually to care for the ships.
Thursday's Senate vote paralleled action last month in the House. That means permission for the cleanup is virtually certain to be included in the final version of the 2003 Defense Authorization Bill when it reaches the floor of both houses in September.
The Senate's proposal for the $393 billion bill, which sets policies for military spending, was approved in a 97-2 vote Thursday. The House meanwhile, voted 413-18 for a separate defense bill
Both bills closely track the Bush administration's defense proposals. They would provide uniformed personnel with pay raises of at least 4.1 percent, with higher increases for troops at some mid-career ranks.
The bills also provide for a landmark shift in the military's retirement program, permitting some disabled retirees to collect both their pension checks and disability benefits paid by the Veterans Administration. Current law bars such ``concurrent receipt,'' so retirees' pensions are reduced by the amount of their disability payments.
Initially, concurrent receipt is to be available only for retirees judged at least 60 percent disabled. But senators agreed in principle to extend it to all disabled military retirees, endorsing a benefit that could cost taxpayers $4 billion or more per year.
The Bush administration has threatened to veto the entire defense spending package if it includes concurrent receipt. Military retirees are the only group of government or civilian pensioners whose retirement benefits can be offset by VA benefits.
The White House also is threatening a veto over action by Democratic senators to trim just over $800 million from the president's plan to develop missile defense systems.
But in an attempt at compromise engineered by Warner and Armed Services Committee chairman Carl M. Levin, D-Mi., senators also agreed Thursday that the administration may apply to missile defense any savings gained from lower-than-expected inflationary cost increases in other military programs.
Warner told colleagues that the Defense Department expects more than $814 million in inflation-related savings next year.
Many of those ships in Suisun Bay look like scrap already. The scrap metal will likely be sold to China (to return at a later date).
Hmmm. Didn't we do that to Japan in the 1920's and 30's???
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