A lot of folks in the Bay Area know the “mothball fleet.” You can spot the aging Navy and merchant vessels as you drive over the Benicia bridge (check out our Google Map here to see the fleet). Most of them are waiting to be recycled – and they’ve been waiting for quite some time.
As I talk about in Monday’s radio story, a lawsuit over these ships was finally settled this week. At issue was the paint flaking off the hulls of the ships. After so many years, it’s weathered and fallen into Suisun Bay. That’s a problem because the paint contains toxic metals like lead, cadmium, and copper. A study in 2007 found that more than 20 tons of these metals had fallen into the bay, which is a critical habitat for some endangered species.
The fleet, managed by the US Maritime Administration (MARAD), is meant to be a temporary holding ground for these ships, but a stalemate in recent years made it a bit more permanent. Since the closest ship recycling facility is in Brownsville, Texas, the ships must be towed there through the Panama Canal. But before they leave the bay, the marine growth on the hulls has to be removed to prevent the spread of invasive species. As we reported in a QUEST TV story a few years ago, MARAD wanted to do that cleaning in Suisun Bay. The San Francisco Bay Water Quality Control Board ruled that method would release even more pollution.
Two things have happened in the meantime. First, in January, a judge ruled that the fleet was in violation of the Clean Water Act. Second, a new administration entered the White House. As several people I spoke to mentioned, it lead to a noticeable thawing in relations. As a sign of that, MARAD began moving a few ships out for recycling last fall.
