Here is the seventh and
final release from the General Services Administration, sent to me on September
30, exactly one year to the day that the first release came out.
There are 468 pages of
information in this release, hence the long processing time to review and get
this information out. As before, in prior releases, there is a lot to read, but
the information is important to review as it reveals more of the machinations
that allowed STORIS to be illegally exported to Mexico for scrapping.
As other FOIA releases have
demonstrated, there was a callous lack of concern for the accomplishments and
significance of STORIS and the contributions of her crews over her 65 years of
service to the U.S. To the Coast Guard, she was a financial liability. To the GSA, she was
nothing better than a beat-up old file cabinet. It is repeated throughout the
documentation that selling the ship for chump change to a questionable scrapper
of dubious background was in the government’s best interests. This, despite the
ship’s listing in December 2012 as nationally significant on the National
Register of Historic Places. Federal preservation law (National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966 16 USC 470) strongly encourages the preservation of
nationally significant historic properties, particularly federally owned
properties that are being transferred to private ownership. The bureaucrats
within GSA didn’t care and the CG officials involved weren’t much better. The
EPA officials at best couldn’t be bothered to look deeper into the concerns we
expressed over the legality of the ship’s sale and export, instead choosing to
accept seriously flawed paperwork that they should have immediately recognized
for its faults. Then there were the MARAD officials, who sat back while all
this was going on and let it happen, knowing full well that STORIS should have
been under their disposal purview (40 USC 548), that the ship undoubtedly
contained PCBs and other regulated hazardous materials, and that the export of
the ship to Mexico violated federal law (§3502 of the Duncan Hunter NDAA of
2009).
Some very interesting points
popped out of this release. One is some unexpected documentation related to a
former NASA barge, the POSEIDON. This barge was used by NASA to haul Saturn V
rocket stages for the Apollo missions and later, the large main fuel tank for
the space shuttle. POSEIDON was involved with a scandal related to her sale by
GSA. GSA listed the barge for sale and the winning bidder learned after the
auction was over that the ballast water that was used to secure the barge to
its moorings contained a corrosion inhibitor that made the 250,000 gallons of
ballast into hazardous materials. NASA revealed this to GSA, but GSA did not
see fit to list it in the auction listing. A lawsuit resulted and the court
found in favor of the purchaser and voided the sales agreement, refunding the
deposit. The court documents are here:
It is interesting to note
that the auction for POSEIDON took place just a few months after the former CGC
ACUSHNET (WMEC-167) was auctioned off by GSA. We are certain that, by virtue of
her age and construction, that ACUSHNET likely has on board latent and
undocumented hazardous materials that should have made her open, unrestricted
auction illegal under federal law. As you may recall, ACUSHNET is now for sale
in Anacortes, WA, at the center of a federal criminal case involving
the buyer and his alleged activities in defrauding a wealthy and vulnerable
widow out of approximately $1 million to buy the ship and for personal expenses
for himself.
The POSEIDON lawsuit was
underway in early 2013 as GSA was preparing to fast-track the sale of STORIS to
expedite her disposal from federal ownership. Again, we know that STORIS also
contained asbestos, red lead and PCBs above federally regulated levels as she
had on board significant quantities of undocumented materials such as abandoned
cabling. Earlier documents released through FOIA demonstrate that there was a
clear and conscious effort to avoid testing STORIS (and ACUSHNET, as well as
MACKINAW and likely other cutters…) according to accepted protocols that would
have identified latent hazardous materials. Instead of random sampling as
required by law, the sites chosen for PCB were deliberate in that the sites
chosen would have little chance of testing positive for PCB content. These
included samples taken from items manufactured well after the federal PCB ban
went into place. Strikingly, no samples were taken from paints (older paints
used PCBs as flame retardants) or the electrical system (where PCBs would have
been used for their heat resistance in cooling oils and insulation). The
presence of haz-mat was verified by members of STORIS’ final crew. Yet STORIS
was sold as miraculously PCB free with very sparse and questionable paperwork.
What do all these
transactions have in common? Tonya Dillard of the General Services
Administration. She was in charge of sales for all of these questionable
transactions.
In fact, in this FOIA
release, there is a huge reveal on page 205 when Tonya Dillard reveals that the
GSA does not release hazardous materials documentation to the buyers of vessels
who purchase them through GSA Auctions.
From: Tonya Dillard -
4QSCA <tonyar.dillard@gsa.gov>
To: Heather Bischoff -
4QSCB <heather.bischoff@gsa.gov>
CC:
We only provided the
successful bidder with a copy of the purchaser's receipt. We never provide the
successful bidder a copy of the Hazmat Documentation. (P206)
This is outrageous and goes
right back to the POSEIDON issue discussed earlier in the packet of
information. Dillard was involved with the auction of ACUSHNET, POSEIDON and
STORIS. It would seem that Tonya Dillard plays fast and loose when it comes to
disposing of ships containing hazardous materials, despite federal laws that
are supposed to regulate these substances. These regulations include the Toxic
Substances Control Act of 1976 and the strict regulation of PCBs. “The USCG is
precluded from the “distribution in commerce” of PCBs or items containing PCBs
in concentrations above specified levels. Under the Federal Property Management
Regulations (FPMR), the GSA regulates the transfer of excess personal property
through the utilization and disposal cycle defined in 41 CFR 102-36. The
transfer of any property that is contaminated with hazardous materials such as
PCBs, asbestos, or lead-based paint shall be in accordance with the guidelines
established in 41 CFR 101-42.” STORIS likely contained all of these materials
and so does ACUSHNET.
It would be interesting to
know what kind of incentives the government and particularly GSA has for pushing
sales of contaminated items out into private ownership…
On
pages 347-351, there is a tersely worded email from Jeff Beach of the Coast
Guard dated 9/27/13. Beach is demonstrating
concern and a lack of patience with the buyer and GSA, disagreeing with GSA
officials that the failure to move STORIS from the SBRF was because the move
was beyond the control of the buyer. Beach points out that he believes the
delay was caused by the buyer intentionally holding the ship at the SBRF to
avoid the costs of moving the ship to a commercial berth while working out his
plans for the ultimate disposition of the ship. Beach is concerned as the Oct 1
fiscal year cutoff is looming and the potential costs to the CG were appx $70K
if the ship was not moved. As it was, she stayed in the SBRF for almost an
entire additional month and there has never been any revelation as to whether
or not the CG, the buyer or any other party had to pay for that extra storage
time. Granted the government shutdown started Oct. 1, but the staff at SBRF was
not affected by the shutdown and were open for business. Beach requests in his
email of Sep 25 that the sale be voided and control of STORIS returned to the USCG.
Dillard and GSA refused to void the sale, instead sticking up for the buyer, Mark
Jurisich of U.S. Metals Recovery. Here, it would be a valid question to ask why
Tonya Dillard and GSA were defending the buyer and his interests before that of
the agency that had excessed the vessel and had the immediate need to move the
ship or incur a financial penalty for the ship remaining in the SBRF.
The correspondence largely
speaks for itself. Again, from the original filing of this FOIA on Nov. 4, 2013 to the final release on Sept 30, 2015, it was just short of two years to get this information.
STORIS is gone, but we still
deserve answers. Hopefully, we can get some justice, especially if we can get
this information in front of the right government investigators, particularly
the Government Accountability Office. We need the STORIS Act legislation to
pass to initiate the audit of the ship recycling program of the US Maritime
Administration. Again, MARAD let this all happen, even though its own officials
questioned the PCB-free designation of STORIS just prior to her export.
A summary is as follows:
P 1-25 As in earlier releases from GSA, this section
and others is a rambling back-and-forth between GSA officials regarding an
inquiry from Bob King of Senator Mark Begich’s office in the hours immediately
following the STORIS auction. In this exchange, GSA officials discuss how to
respond, the particulars of the auction, the fact that GSA is going to accept
the bid for $70,100 (despite the bid being well below the $100K reserve price),
and the identity of the winning bidder. A key comment is on page 22 from
Heather Bischoff of GSA:
Fri Jun 28 2013 07:29:42 GMT-0600 (MDT)
ID:
13f8afa0b850234c
From:
Heather Bischoff - 4QSCB <heather.bischoff@gsa.gov>
To:
Saudia Muwwakkil - ZP1B <saudia.muwwakkil@gsa.gov>
CC:
Karen Warrior <karen.warrior@gsa.gov>, Mark Brantley - 4QSC1
<mark.brantley@gsa.gov>, Tonya Dillard - 4QSCA <tonyar.dillard@gsa.gov>,
Deone McMillan <deone.mcmillan@gsa.gov>, Dave Robbins - QSC
<david.robbins@gsa.gov>
Hello
again.... Another important piece of information for you to be aware of is the
high bidder will be using the vessel as scrap metal. The MOA with the State
Historic Preservation Office and Coast Guard (attached) put the onus on the
Coast Guard to preserve the history rather than putting restrictive covenants
on the vessel itself.
This demonstrates once again
that GSA cared not one bit that STORIS was officially designated as nationally
significant and listed officially on the National Register of Historic Places.
They fell back on the Section 106 MOA that, at the time of the auction, was
almost seven years old. Circumstances had changed since the original creation
of the document, yet GSA charged ahead with their expedited disposal of the
ship based on that agreement. Whether that was an appropriate course of action
remains to be determined. And once again, just because they could do that doesn’t
meant they HAD to do it. This is all about getting rid of the ship ASAP with no
concern for her history. Lazy, indifferent, incompetent bureaucrats… Another
key aspect of this communication is that GSA officials knew immediately that
the intent for STORIS was scrap. How did they know? Why did they not refer to
the restrictions for STORIS to be recycled domestically per Section 3502 of the
Duncan Hunter NDAA of 2009?
P 25-31 – Email exchange
between the buyer, GSA, Coast Guard and MARAD related to Department of Defense
permission to export the ship to Mexico. CG and GSA expressed belief at one time that the
buyer was free to move the ship wherever he wanted to as it was a privately owned
vessel. However, the State Department said otherwise and considered STORIS a
warship, limited by International Trade in ARms restrictions. Here the buyer
refers to pressure from “my people.” Who are “his people?” We know that the
buyer had to have $50K wired in from a foreign source to finalize purchase of
the ship. Nowhere in the GSA paperwork does the government identify the source
of the foreign money, as required by the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 or the
PATRIOT Act of 2001. Who are the foreign interests behind the purchase of the
ship?
P 31-32 – Discussion between
the buyer, GSA and CG related to the need for a Certificate of Financial
Responsibility (insurance for oil pollution release).Also, STORIS had to be
removed from the SBRF before the new fiscal year beginning Oct 1 in order to
prevent the USCG from being billed for additional storage fees. This is an
important ongoing topic of discussion.
P 33- 42 – Correspondence
between the State Department and CG related to STORIS’ decommissioned status. P
35 has a comment from Tonya Dillard stating the sales contract will not be
voided based on circumstances beyond the buyer’s control. Further discussion
with another GSA official, David Robbins, the Director of Personal Property
Management.
P 42-71 Discussion between
MARAD and CG about the possibility of CG being stuck with another year’s
storage fees if the ship is not removed by Sep 30. Continued discussion related
to the ship’s military decommissioned status with the State Department’s
involvement. Delays because the ship is anchoring down the row at SBRF. P 67
has a comment from Robbins re the sale to US citizens only with the
International Traffic in ARms regulations. Page 66 refers to GSA officials
discussing military sales constraints which would limit the scope of sales to U.S. citizens. If GSA is selling these items, shouldn’t
they be better versed in items they are handling and selling off?
P72-78 Correspondence from
Tonya Dillard of GSA stating that Jim Loback of the STORIS Museum was working to see the purchase contract voided so that the museum
could attempt to take title to the ship. Jeff Beach at Coast Guard indicated
that the CG would be “giving the property to Mr Loback’s agency once the
contract was voided.” So what you have is an international mess where GSA sold
a contaminated ship to a buyer who had to go through official channels to
export the ship to Mexico, a ship that was considered a warship by the State
Department. The government allowed the export to proceed even though there were
issues with her status as an armament and the fact that §3502 of the Duncan
Hunter NDAA of 2009 should have precluded her export altogether. The GSA and
government could have facilitated the transfer of STORIS to the domestic nonprofits,
which would have preserved the ship, a designated national historic property.
Instead, they opted to follow a more complicated path that broke several
federal laws and ended with STORIS destroyed on a beach in Mexico. They could have helped facilitate the preservation
of the ship, yet they went through all the trouble to facilitate the illegal
export of the ship by a sleazy buyer from a questionable “metals recycling”
company. The government enabled the buyer to try to extort the nonprofits
interested in preserving the ship even as he tried to find a way to circumvent
domestic recycling and labor laws to cut the ship up in California using migrant labor. Then, when domestic recycling
options became nonexistent, he exported STORIS to Mexico with the government’s blessing.
P79-104 – More discussion
about the demilitarized status of STORIS and the issue of exporting out of the
country what the State Department considered to be a warship. A FOIA request I
submitted to the State Department has not had much in the way of a response
other than a denial for expedited response. As we know from watching the
situation with former Sec of State Hillary Clinton and her emails, the State
Department does not respond to requests for information related to wrongdoing
or email reviews.
P 104-105 – Correspondence
from GSA regarding the removal of the ship in mid-September
P 106 -108 – Discussion
between Heather Bischoff and Tonya Dillard of GSA regarding difficulties the
buyer, Mark Jurisich, was having registering STORIS with the CG Vessel
Documentation Center. Dillard also mentions that Jim Loback had called asking
why the ship hadn’t been moved and the particulars of Jurisich trying to extort
the STORIS Museum, considering the known high costs of domestic scrapping.
P109 – Request from Mark
Jurisich to Tonya Dillard asking for a phone call. Phone calls are convenient
as they evade the paper trail that can be picked up by FOIA requests.
P110 -115 – Request from
Tonya Dillard to Mark Jurisich for an update re removal of STORIS from the
SBRF.
P116-120 – More discussion
regarding paperwork prior to the ship’s removal.
P 121- Heather Bischoff out
of office
P122-127 – More discussion
between Dillard and Jurisich re COFR and removal of the ship.
P128-131 – Discussion
related to towing issues and a contact within the San Francisco CG Office for Waterways
Management. This would have involved issues related to bottom-cleaning and
invasive species protection requirements. STORIS was towed directly from Suisun Bay
to Ensenada without stopping for a bottom cleaning. Recent
documentation obtained through FOIA specifies that ships in the SBRF are to
have their hulls cleaned every five years. STORIS was in the SBRF for over six
without being touched.
P 132-133 – More about COFR
from Jurisich to Dillard, Dillard out of office.
P134-157 – Correspondence
shared by Jurisich with his insurance underwriter discussing the COFR. Jurisich
explains that STORIS has been laid up in better condition than any other CG
ship at SBRF, according to MARAD officials. He indicates the sea chests are
blanked off and the bottom cleaned. He also states that ship has been cleaned
of all PCBs (which we know is categorically not true). Plan at that time was to
tow from SBRF to Alameda.
P 157-158 – Dillard out of
office
P 159-179 – Here is the interesting
inclusion not related to STORIS, but the NASA barge POSEIDON, used to transport
Saturn V stages and the space shuttle’s main fuel tank.
Have to laugh cynically at :
"Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The
Obama Administration is committed to an open and transparent government.
Accordingly, the US General Services Administration (GSA) is doing its part to make
government more open, accessible and transparent…” Ha! What a joke.
P 180-182 – Copies of
correspondence between Jurisich and Sause towing.
P 183 – Out of office
message from Dillard
P 184-199 – Bureaucratic
runaround among GSA officials as to how to respond to the FOIA request
submitted by Jon Ottman (me) on behalf of the STORIS Museum to identify the
buyer. It took them several weeks to respond and, by then, the buyer had
already contacted the STORIS Museum through an intermediary to start his extortion
attempt.
P 200-203 – Correspondence
between MARAD’s director of ship sales, Curt Michanczyk, and GSA regarding
STORIS’ sale. Michanczyk notes immediately that the ship was sold for scrap. This
particular exchange is indicative of a problem with this FOIA response as GSA
did not release Heather Bischoff’s response. Also, why doesn’t Curt Michanczyk
notify GSA that STORIS would be restricted to domestic scrapping? BIG PROBLEMS
ALL THE WAY ROUND…
P 204- More COFR discussion
P 205-213 An interesting
exchange between Jeff Beach of Coast Guard and Heather Bischoff of GSA related
to the collection of haz-mat documentation related to STORIS that was being
gathered to respond to inquiries from the Environmental Protection Agency
following the ship’s export. This was prompted by the public outcry related to
the ship’s export when it was known she contained latent hazardous materials
and PCB-containing materials higher than the 50 ppm regulated threshold.
P 214-216 – Departure
information from MARAD to CG and GSA
P 217 – Message from Jeff
Beach of CG to Chris Rollins, EPA inspector in Region IX related to the PCB
status of STORIS. The PowerPoint presentation referenced demonstrates the
removal of 20 linear feet of black foam insulation that, upon removal,
magically rendered STORIS free of PCBs. This is, of course, not true as there
was a significant quantity of undocumented material on board the ship that
still contained PCBs. The PCB reports referenced in the email are also
erroneous as discussed earlier, as the CG’s protocols and methods for testing
were wholly inappropriate. The testing process seems to have made a very
conscious effort to complete avoid testing any location that had a high
probability of finding PCBs. Nothing in the electrical system was checked, for
example.
P 218-229 – Correspondence
among GSA officials related to PCBs on board STORIS following an inquiry from
Polly Parks, an official with European Metals Recycling. Ms Parks’
correspondence to the government agencies expresses concern and skepticism
about the legality of the STORIS export and the ship’s status as free of
regulated PCBs. GSA. Tonya Dillard of GSA blows off the significance of Ms Parks’
inquiry, stating that she is not a federal official. However, Ms. Parks was
dead-on correct in her assessment of the situation after having read a
newspaper story in Stars and Stripes about STORIS’ export to Mexico for
scrapping. Again, the government falls back on flawed PCB sampling
documentation.
P230- Correspondence between
GSA and EPA Region IX regarding STORIS being placed under arrest by Mexican
authorities related to reported radiation exposure. Again, this was blamed on
me, though it was completely untrue: “It
is suspected that Mr. Ottman and his team have reported to the Mexican
authority that the vessel contains radioactive material.” I did notify the
Mexican government about likely PCB contamination but I am not responsible for
the radioactivity claims. If I wanted to be taken seriously, why would I lie
about radiation contamination? The Mexican government supposedly tested STORIS
for PCBs after the radiation issue, but they told a bilingual reporter from the
Associated Press that nothing as found. If that was the case, then why did
Mexican authorities tell the reporter that the ship’s electrical system was
sent back to the U.S. for recycling? Mexico has no facilities to
handle PCB remediation. Why would some of the most valuable metal on the ship
be sent back to the US if there was nothing wrong
with it? That doesn’t even cover the PCB-impregnated materials like original
paints deep under subsequent layers that would have released toxic substances
when hit with a torch…
P231-240
– Additional discussion related to the correspondence from Ms Parks from EMR.
Tonya Dillard tells Jeff Beach that he should not comply with the request from
Ms Parks for documentation that proves STORIS is free of PCBs. “Polly Parks
does not represent a federal agency. I would not adhere to request unless you
receive consent from your legal counsel. Please do not think I am trying to
tell you what to do just trying to offer a little advice,” she said. About that
Obama Administration transparency… From prior email releases, we know that
Beach did send the email but tried to electronically recall it before Ms Parks
was able to open it (see P 255). His efforts were unsuccessful and the
information was successfully obtained.
P241-255
– More discussion about the radioactivity between EPA and GSA
P255
– Email recall notification from Jeff Beach of CG as he tried to pull back his
message to Ms Parks of EMR, all as copied to GSA
P 256-259
– Departure report request from MARAD.
P 260-265 – Request for assistance with STORIS
following the report of radioactivity on board the ship.
P 266-288 – Going back, acknowledgement of the bid
deposit from STORIS Museum and associated discussion
involving Mark Begich’s office after the auction. The correspondence shows once
again the deceptive answers that GSA even gives representatives of Congress.
They can’t give a straight, honest answer about what they are doing with STORIS
and their intentions if their lives depended on it. Subterfuge is the MO. And
again, GSA knew right away STORIS was destined for scrapping despite all the
sources we consulted with stating that it was going to be cost-prohibitive to
do that stateside (within the law) and that there was no way she could be
exported to Ensenada. Additional discussion involves the process and rationale
for selling the ship at below reserve price.
P
289-320 – Continuation of the discussion above, bringing in a newspaper story
“blasting GSA” for the sale of the ship. “The problem is the guy did not have
credentials to become or be deemed a museum entity so after storing the shop
for several years in anticipation of the guy becoming eligible for museum
status, the Coast Guard asked GSA to dispose of the property.” No, the problem
is that GSA lied to Jim Loback (AKA “That guy”) about helping us to get STORIS.
Jim had a decorated 21-year military career in the Coast Guard, Air Force and
Army that included a Bronze Star. He worked tirelessly for over seven years to
save STORIS for preservation and interpretation. GSA said they’d help us, that
we had a 99 percent chance of getting the ship. Heather Bischoff said we may
have to pay a modest cost (the museum that got the CGC ACACIA [WLB-406] here in
Michigan paid $5,000 for her) but she said GSA wanted us to
get STORIS. Instead, they fell back on that seven-year-old Section 106 MOA and
kicked us to the curb. GSA also refused to acknowledge that we couldn’t be a
full-time museum without the ship as the main facility to house the
organization. Again, they said they would work out a waiver, but fell back on
the Section 106 MOA. Arrogant, ignorant, disrespectful and incompetent don’t
even begin to sum up the GSA bureaucracy.
P320-327
– Press inquiry related to STORIS. This was the newspaper story related to California
Ships to Reefs, the group interested in securing STORIS, PLANETREE and IRIS for
reefing near Santa Catalina Island. More recycling of previous correspondence. Again,
this whole series of releases is wasteful in the amount of extra white space
and repetitive information. Keep in mind that this is the FOIA that GSA wanted
to charge me over $10K to fulfill.
Then
the correspondence returns to more evolutions of earlier repetitive discussion.
P340-334
– Discussion between CG and MARAD regarding paperwork and receipts to authorize
release of the ship to Mark Jurisich, dated Oct 23, two days before she was
towed out to head to Mexico.
P345-346
– Discussion re deadlines to remove the ship from the SBRF before CG incurs
additional storage costs. This was impacted by the government shutdown
orchestrated by Congress that fall that prevented the ship from being moved at
the beginning of the month. While the shutdown stopped the ship from being
moved, it also kept us from getting any official help with the ship as any
government authorities we could appeal to were not working.
P347-351
– Tersely worded email from Jeff Beach dated 9/27/13 disagreeing with GSA
officials that the failure to move STORIS from the SBRF was because the move
was beyond the control of the buyer. Beach points out that he believes the
delay was caused by the buyer holding the ship at the SBRF to avoid the costs
of moving the ship to a commercial berth. Beach is concerned as the Oct 1
fiscal year cutoff is looming and the potential costs to the CG were appx $70K
if the ship was not moved. As it was, she stayed in the SBRF for almost an
entire additional month and there has never been any revelation as to whether
or not the CG or any other party had to pay for that extra storage time. The email he is responding to is P 348-49.
Beach requests in his email of Sep 25 that the sale be voided and control of
STORIS returned to USCG.
P
352-353 – Correspondence between USCG and US State Department to certify that
the STORIS is decommissioned and has been removed from service. This is
supporting documentation to go along with the export license associated with a
demilitarized vessel.
P
354-355 – Correspondence between MARAD and USCG re storage fees if the ship
isn’t moved by Oct 1. This is mirrored in earlier documentation.
P
356-361 – More discussion about legalities related to the State Department
export license process, as discussed above.
P
362- 363 – Vessel documentation question to allow the ship to be transferred
and re-registered
P
364-370 – Question from Jeff Beach to GSA asking how to handle inquiries from
CG Vets regarding who bought the STORIS. Heather Bischoff tells Beach that he
shouldn’t tell anyone who bought the ship, that interested parties should file
a FOIA with GSA. Again, so much for government transparency in the enlightened
Obama Nation.
P
371-372 – A report indicates that oil is found on board the ship, an estimated
100 gallons (obviously they didn’t check the ESDG tank as that alone had a
hundred gallons in it according to layup instructions). This necessitates a
COFR.
P
373-374 – Discussion among GSA staff about the official definition of a museum
group. STORIS Museum didn’t meet the
qualifications to be called a museum. GSA officials couldn’t seem to wrap their
heads around the concept that we needed the ship to open a museum as the ship
herself was to be the facility. At one point, they seemed to accede to that
point and insisted they would work with us…that is until they found the Section
106 MOA. Then everything was off.
P
375-383 – A very important exchange between Beach at CG and the dim bulbs at
GSA. The discussion revolves around hull cleaning requirements if the ship is
to be moved from the SBRF and restrictions for foreign scrapping. The
discussion indicates that there were no clear answers on the hull cleaning and
no restrictions on foreign scrapping. The foreign scrapping issue was patently
false. There are federal laws on the books that should have prevented STORIS
from being allowed to go to Ensenada for breaking (again, §3502
of the Duncan Hunter NDAA of 2009). The discussion once again brings up the
seriously flawed documentation created by the flawed testing for haz-mat on
board STORIS (as well as ACUSHNET, done at the same time following the same
testing regimen). They claim there was no asbestos on board the ship (false) as
well as no PCBs (also false, based on the age of the vessel and because of
statements from her last crew that testified otherwise). GSA should never have
been involved with STORIS as her tonnage of 1,710 exceeded the agency’s legal
purview of 1,500 tons (40 USC 548).
P
387-423 – Miscellaneous discussion between CG and GSA regarding COFR
information and discussion about Jeff Beach releasing the name of the buyer.
Here Heather Bischoff tells Jeff Beach not to release the name, to make whoever
asks file a FOIA (with me specifically mentioned by name). Her statement “It is
not a lengthy process,” is beyond asinine since here we are still sorting
through FOIA information that I requested on Nov 4,
2013, over TWO FULL YEARS AGO…
P
424-425 – A very important document that shows that GSA did not unilaterally
make the decision to sell STORIS for the $70,100. Tonya Dillard sends a message
to Jeff Beach late on the night the auction closed asking if the CG would
accept the below reserve bid. There is also some discussion about the sales
description of ACUSHNET.
P
426-427 – Discussion about inspection dates on board the ship for the auction.
The original dates extended past the auction close, so the dates were adjusted
backward to accommodate the true auction period.
P
428-431 – GSA and CG sharing the post I put up on the old STORIS Museum
Facebook page imploring people to not bid on the ship to help stave off
potential competition in the bidding. This was in some other documentation
released through FOIA. GSA and CG were scared that they were going to be stuck
with the ship…
P
432-435 – Story about the ship going up for auction in the Seattle paper.
P
436-438 – More emails regarding the STORIS Museum FB post asking bidders to
stay away.
P
439-444 – Discussion between GSA and CG about the auction and GSA turning down
an expressed interest in claiming STORIS by a Naval Sea Cadet representative
(affiliated with our efforts through The Last Patrol group in Toledo). GSA was not going to
help us in any way, shape or form. Their position is patently false as Sea
Cadet groups have claimed surplus Coast Guard property many times in the past.
P
445- 454 – More discussion about the auction particulars and the Naval Sea
Cadet group’s expression of interest in the ship. This goes along with the
two-year transfer period that GSA originally said it would take us to claim the
ship, as told to Jim Loback of the STORIS Museum. That was obviously a lie
from GSA. Jim had been told that the nonprofit claim period would be run after
the federal and state period. Instead it was run concurrently with the state period.
P
455-468 – Miscellaneous discussion about auctioning off some excess 55-foot CG
boats, with STORIS added as an afterthought. Apparently the CG and GSA people
are easily confused when a computer refuses to cooperate with what they want in
terms of data entry when listing a property for sale. In this exchange, Heather
Bischoff makes off-hand comments about “officially” involving historic
preservation officials from the GSA and CG. As already discussed, the validity
of following a seven-year-old agreement is in question, especially with the
change of circumstances with STORIS officially listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. Bischoff even acknowledges the risk to the ship if she
leaves federal ownership. Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act
– the very same law that gave GSA the out for Section 106 – strongly encourages
the preservation of nationally significant historic properties, especially if
being transferred from federal ownership to private. There is also the matter of
a former government ship being allowed to go to a foreign yard for breaking.
But like any good government bureaucrat, they just cherry picked what they
wanted to follow.
There
will most certainly an appeal filed to follow up with this release.
