The end. The decorated and nationally historic USCGC STORIS passes under the Golden Gate Bridge on March 28, 2007 on her way to the mothball fleet and eventual destruction in a foreign scrapyard.
This is the
big news I spoke of last week. Had to confirm some information and get
supporting documentation --
For
decades, STORIS served her country with honor, respect and devotion to duty.
She protected mariners, her citizens and the environment.
Upon her
retirement, the government she served let her down. Inexplicably, she was
allowed to be illegally exported for dismantling in a foreign scrapyard where
environmental and occupational safety standards are lax compared to the U.S.
Now,
through her loss, STORIS may have the opportunity to make a difference for her
country and environment one last time.
Sen. Mark
Begich of Alaska is preparing to introduce
legislation called "The Storis Act."
I am not an
attorney. I am not fluent in "legalese." Nor do I pretend to fully
understand all of the various regulations this legislation would introduce or
modify across several established laws. However, this legislation would be
landmark in nature, requiring that, starting with ships in the U.S. Maritime
Security Fleet, ultimately all U.S.-flagged commercial vessels will have to be
dismantled and recycled at qualified U.S. ship recycling facilities. This
will prevent American vessels from being sent overseas for scrapping in foreign
scrapyards, particularly those infamous yards on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Links to several media stories and
commentaries about these third-world ship demolition locations are posted
elsewhere on this page.
It has been
discussed here about the evils of U.S. vessels being cut up in these
locations to avoid environmental responsibility, causing pollution to run directly
into the sea and with workers mangled and killed in abhorrent working
conditions for minimal wages.
That would
end with this proposed legislation, ensuring that American ships are dismantled
in environmentally sound U.S. ship recycling facilities following
strict environmental standards. It would also ensure that skilled American jobs
and revenues generated in these facilities stay in the U.S.
The
legislation will prevent the practice of "reflagging for
convenience," where a U.S. ship is sold to a foreign owner to reflag it specifically
for the purpose of skirting U.S. regulations and the stigma of sending American
toxins to lesser-developed countries.
The
legislation reinforces a program that ensures that a percentage of revenues
generated by the scrapping of federally owned ships are distributed through
Maritime Heritage grants to maritime museums in the United States.
Transparency
from the Maritime Administration is built into the legislation with mandated
public release of key operational documentation and agreements involving MARAD.
We know
laws already in place to prevent the scrapping of military ships outside the
country were broken in allowing the destruction of STORIS and that will still
require answers from key legislators and bureaucrats. While STORIS is discussed
in the context of this op-ed as a vessel that should have been recycled in the U.S., that is the intent of the laws
that were broken. It was our higher intention to see her PRESERVED as an active
museum vessel, a whole other arena of ethics and responsibility shirked by the
federal government.
In her
name, this legislation has the major potential to close the loophole that
allows commercial ships to escape the regulations and practices that are meant
to protect the environment and American workers.
It will
force a change of “business model” for shipping companies in making them more
responsible in how their vessels are recycled. I also suspect that it will make
it extremely difficult – hopefully impossible – for a situation like STORIS to
happen again, with a U.S. vessel intentionally moved out of
the country to skirt the costs of domestic scrapping by using cheaper foreign
labor and ignoring environmental concerns. It will close the door to places
like Alang, Gadani, and Chittagong.
I believe
this would effectively curtail the business model for certain so-called “metals
recycling businesses” that have used that route to send ships to Ensenada.
While the
proposed legislation tackles a different set of issues, the introduction will –
in a very important way – open a dialogue into STORIS herself and what happened
to the ship in her own situation. There will have to be an explanation as to
why the legislation is called what it is. This is an opportunity for those of
us who care about STORIS to speak up and be heard.
I encourage
STORIS supporters to get behind this legislation and push for its adoption. It
is one step toward some redemption.
It is
worthy that Duncan Hunter, the namesake of the National Defense Authorization
Act language that should have made STORIS’ export illegal is on the House
T&I Committee. I think everyone should reach out to his office on behalf of
STORIS.
A template for a letter to the legislators is located here: http://goo.gl/pq52dl. Feel free to personalize it to suit your own specific perspective, experience and feelings.
Again, this
is a chance to speak up and be heard about our feelings and disgust in regard
to the utterly contemptible treatment that STORIS and her crews received at the
hands of our government, the very same government the ship and her Coast Guard
heroes served for over 64 years.
Please
check back for updates.
For STORIS.
