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Don't give James River a lube job
VIRGINIA IS MORE than happy to host and reap the economic benefits of a strong military presence. What it doesn't need, however, are rusted hulks fouling its waters with toxic fuel oil. That assault on nature should get every Virginian up in arms.
Eight times now in the past four years, old ships loitering in the James River Reserve Fleet--aka the "Ghost Fleet"--have sprung leaks in their rotting hulls, causing oil slicks that needed to be sopped up. Most recently, two 500-foot cargo ships leaked a total of 10 gallons of heavy oil. Besides performing the cleanup, crews pumped tons of nasty, oil-tainted water from the ships' holds.
Granted, a 10-gallon spill is no Exxon Valdez, but a prior release measured 1,000 gallons. About 7.7 million gallons of oils and fuels remain on board the ships--and that does more closely approach the quantity involved in the 1989 Valdez disaster in Alaska. The repeated leaks represent a chronic threat that will worsen over time as the 100 or so ships parked in the James, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay, continue to rust. Indeed, the two ships responsible for the most recent spill, in October, are not even listed among the fleet's most suspect members.
The spills also serve to recall last year's study that warned how the breakup of just two ships could spill nearly 300,000 gallons of heavy oil, damaging 50 miles of the James and fouling nature sanctuaries, seed oyster grounds, sandy beaches, and historic Jamestown Island--not to mention clogging the cooling water for the Surry nuclear power plant.
The cleanup of such a mishap comes with a price tag of $45 million. One scenario, of a hurricane slamming into the region and precipitating such havoc, is not at all far-fetched. More than 30 ships got loose in 1999 when Tropical Storm Floyd brought 40-mph winds and choppy waters to Hampton Roads. Just this summer, two ships were reported listing after breaking their mooring lines under normal weather conditions.
Who conducted the gloom-and-doom study? The U.S. Maritime Administration, which takes care of the Ghost Fleet. Obviously, the federal government is aware of the problem of mothballed armadas, here and elsewhere. It has budgeted $20 million to get rid of those ships at Newport News deemed at greatest risk of breaking up. But that hardly solves the problem or alleviates the danger. Gov. Warner is threatening to sue the feds if they fail to take preventive action, and that's an admirable position.
The need to educate the right people in Congress about the peril is paramount. They must appreciate that safely dismantling those ships, which haven't a prayer of returning to service, will prove a lot less costly now than cleaning up an environmental disaster later.