Recycling A Toxic Fleet Of Ghost Ships

An Earthjustice lawsuit successfully blocked the export of nine decommissioned naval vessels from the United States to England for scrapping, ensuring they are recycled domestically to avoid the risks of transporting toxic materials across open waters.

• A lawsuit filed in October 2003 by the Basel Action Network and the Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, prevented the export of nine ex-naval 'Ghost Fleet' vessels from the James River in Virginia to Teesside, England. The suit alleged that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Toxics Substances Control Act.
• The vessels in question were in severe condition, with some already leaking oil into the James River. Government estimates indicated that 13 such vessels contained over 3,000 long tons of fuel oils and 100 tons of toxic, persistent PCBs.
• While a U.S. federal district court in D.C. allowed four vessels to be exported due to a Congressional mandate, it blocked the other nine until MARAD performed an Environmental Impact Assessment and secured PCB export authorization. In 2007, MARAD annulled the contract because the ship-breaker, Able UK, could not obtain the necessary permits to operate in Teesside.

APA

Earthjustice (2001). Recycling A Toxic Fleet Of Ghost Ships. https://earthjustice.org/case/pcb-ghost-ship-exports

Chicago

Earthjustice. Recycling A Toxic Fleet Of Ghost Ships. 2001. https://earthjustice.org/case/pcb-ghost-ship-exports.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Recycling A Toxic Fleet Of Ghost Ships |date=20 October 2001 |url=https://earthjustice.org/case/pcb-ghost-ship-exports |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2001recycling, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Recycling A Toxic Fleet Of Ghost Ships}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2001}, month = oct, url = {https://earthjustice.org/case/pcb-ghost-ship-exports}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }