Why is the US trying to dump toxic waste in my country?
 

A fleet of so-called 'ghost ships' have arrived in the UK from the US. These ships contain toxic chemicals, including fifty tonnes of asbestos, and have been sent to Hartlepool to be dismantled and disposed of. The firm in charge of dismantling the ships, Able UK say that the toxic waste on board can be disposed of safely. If this is so, why have they not been dismantled in the US?

There is a brief article on the matter here

Because the UK agreed to do it...

In fact, the UK did not agree to do it. I did not agree to do it, the Environment Agency (the government body responsible for allowing or disallowing such things) did not agree to it and there is to be a legal hearing on the matter before the dismantling is allowed to go ahead. Able UK are an independent company, not a national body. They and the US Navy made this agreement, apperently without even the slightest concern for British law or popular opinion.

"The plan was thrown into chaos last week when the High Court ordered the company not to begin breaking up the decrepit ships until the end of legal hearings next month."

sounds like the firm agreed to do it, but the government/court there says otherwise, at least till the trial is done.

that sucks, they need to dismantle that shit somewhere else. the UK is too cool to risk with abestos crap all over the place.

I would prefer these ships to be dismantled here in the UK as the stuff can be disposed of without causing environmental / health problems to people. The UK has sent ships to India to be disposed of, and the workers there do not wear protective clothing and are exposed to mercury, lead and arsenic. In fact one report I read said that up to 1 in 4 of these workers who earn 65p a day will die of cancer.

Ok just found a story about my last post:


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews...name_page.html

I am guessing that an English firm contracted to dismantle the ships based upon competitive bids. It is a business arrangement - not some deep plot to spread toxic materials. Asbetos, like any other material that has been declared toxic, etc, can be disposed of without harming anything if it is done properly - it is improper disposal or the illegal dumping of such materials that causes the major agony - it this instance that quite obviously wasn't the case. Oh yeah! and by the way John Henry - I think your avatar is really neat!

Free Trade anyone?

Do you believe popular opinion should be solicited for every business contract? The UK company is not exempt from UK (and EU?) environmental laws, it would be no different if the ships had been built in Glasgow and under a UK flag.

yeah, i would hardly consider asbestos to be "toxic" in the sense that it is dangerous to dispose of.

there is always a good reason why this stuff happens, and that reason is the almighty dollar (pound?). you can bet that officials on both sides of the pond knew about it, but enough palms were greased or loopholes found to make it acceptable.

sorry, i'm often cynical... can't help it.

because we dont want it and were bigger then you


(tipical american dumb ass)

Oooh scary asbestos. Asbestos is dangerous when the dust is airborne and you're breathing it in without repirators. How far do you think the airborne particles will get from the scrap yard (especially given the fact that they will be wetting it down and probably sealing the rooms being cleaned)?

This entire protest is completely absurd. The dock in Hartlepool was designed for the sole purpose of dismantling ships and has been doing so for decades.

It is a valuable source of employment in one of the most deprived areas of the country.

I would much rather they were dismantled in my back yard by professionals than some fucking unlucky kids in India (see article posted by Arc101).

Arc,jwoody and L.D. have got this thing right. The ships were taken there because Hartlepool is an appropriate location to do this demolition and an apparently legal contract between two groups was reached. If, in fact, some laws are being broken, I am sure these ships will be moved on to another facility, unfortunately, that facility might not be as good. Welcome to international business and the global village.

Re: Why is the US trying to dump toxic waste in my country?
 

Because the American government paid a lot of money to this firm. As you know, it pays taxes, which go to the federal and local governments, which, in theory benefit the people. This firm also provides jobs. As a private corporation, it is free to do whatever it wishes, as long as the government gave all the proper permits. If the UK government was against it, it shouldn't have given the firm the permits.

People will do anything for money including accepting waste from another country.

I agree this is probably some sort of deal between USA and England. There is always money involved.

I absolutely agree that it's better for the stuff to be dismantled here than somewhere where the workers would be more at risk and I see the point about free trade. The point is that America is technologically at least on a par with if not further ahead than Britain. While America has a stronger economy than Britain, we have a falsely inflated economy due to lots of low interest lending. Consequently a lot of stuff over here is more expensive. Given this, it would surely be cheaper for the ships to be hauled to somewhere well kitted out in the states and have it done there, rather than drag them all the way over here to do the same job. The only conclusion I could come to is that there is some legislation which stops the ships being dismantled in the US that we don't have over here. For such legislation to exist in the first place, there would surely have to be some good reason. That's what worries me.

The title of this thread is a bit badly phrased, but I was using tabloid tactics to get people to look. Sorry. It's really not meant in UK vs US way, just in a wtf?! way.

obviously, they're doing this because it was a lot cheaper to dispose of these ships using the UK company then any US company which is also capable. it's not the US doing something evil to the UK, it's just the way the world works w/free trade.