ENVIRONMENTAL group Basel Action Network has accused US regulators of illegally approving the scrapping of a US-flagged vessel at Chittagong , Bangladesh
The 1978-built, 26,000dwt bulker Harriette is assumed to contain high concentrations of toxic PCBs due to its age, and was not properly tested to prove otherwise, according to BAN.
The group, named after the convention that oversees the disposal of hazardous waste, said the US Environmental Protection Agency declined to review Harriette’s vessel transfer request from the US Maritime Administration. MarAd then authorised the request based solely on self-certification from the ship’s owner, according to the group.
The EPA is therefore “effectively permitting the possibility of illegal export of toxic PCB waste to the developing world with a see-no-evil policy”, BAN said.
The EPA was not immediately available to comment.
A spokesman for Sealift, the shipowner that sold the bulker for scrap, confirmed that the ship was beached yesterday.
But he told Fairplay that “it had all the credentials in place, with its MarAd and environmental approvals in place”.
“We sent our application to MarAd a couple months ago, and their job was to go to EPA,” he added.
The spokesman declined to comment on BAN’s report that the ship was sold for $3.2M.
Source: Caribbean Shipping Association. Wednesday, 15 June 2011
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