Captain from "Deadliest Catch" speaks of DC politics hurting AK crabbing industry

Capt. Keith Colburn, master of the F/V WIZARD, spoke to Fox News about the impact of Washington politics on the Alaskan crab industry. Particularly harmful was the spiteful, petty and totally nonproductive government shutdown that lasted most of October 2013. Not only did the shutdown close the necessary regulatory agencies that monitor the crabbing industry, sending the fleet to anchor, the shutdown also closed the agencies that were necessary to intervene with the illegal sale, export and ultimate scrapping of CGC STORIS.

Washington politics did more than hurt STORIS, a true Alaskan legend and national treasure.

Politicians and bureaucrats killed her.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/07/29/deadliest-catchs-keith-colburn-washington-politics-hurt-my-business/?intcmp=features

June-July update: OGIS, USCG and MARAD discussions

I have been busy with a major project the last few weeks and have had limited Internet access.

I offer a brief update: I had correspondence in June with the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) regarding the difficulty in securing information from the Coast Guard. I submitted an appeal to the CG on June 28 related to the correspondence released. It was pointed out in the appeal that there is known documentation that exists related to STORIS that the CG did not re...lease as a matter of the FOIA response. The appeal has been uploaded here: http://goo.gl/jZeR20. OGIS has indicated that they will open a case when my appeals are exhausted with the Coast Guard.

Today, July 28, MARAD released over 100 pages of documents related to my original Nov. 4 FOIA. The materials have to be read carefully to fully understand exactly what is there, but they will be posted sometime soon. From a quick readthrough, a lot is not helpful as some 60+ pages are documents that originated with the Coast Guard. They were redacted by MARAD and turned over to the USCG FOIA officials to make a determination as to whether or not the information can be released. There are also three or four pages related to GSA documents. Much of what is there is redacted because of the "deliberative process" privilege, again allowing the government to withhold information based on the position that they were discussing how they were going to handle policy and procedure. The problem is, much of the information that we need to have answers as to how and why the ship was allowed to be illegally sold and illegally exported would be in that discussion.

Through the reports and photos included in the FOIA release, it is clear -- and even stated so by the MARAD supervisor at Suisun Bay -- that STORIS was in excellent shape. There are several photos of the ship's sea chests being sealed and her hull was flawless. 

That STORIS was allowed to be destroyed continues to be inexplicable and inexcusable.

Culture of incompetence pervasive among federal agencies

I have been following various publications and government hearings, watching for any information that correlates to the agencies that were involved with the illegal excessing, sale and export of STORIS.

Denise Rucker Krepp, former Chief Counsel for MARAD, has written another column that was recently published in Maritime Executive. The focus of the column relates to the ongoing issues with the controversy over substandard care for our veterans through the Veterans Administration and the culture of incompetence that has allowed this situation to take place. However, the culture of incompetence is pervasive throughout the federal government and explains how bureaucrats and government employees get away with such egregious behavior and actions. In our case, that would include allowing the sale of a nationally significant historic ship (likely containing regulated amounts of PCBs) to an unqualified buyer who then spent the remainder of the summer of 2013 flaunting deadlines and attempting to extort the nonprofits who wanted to save the ship for museum use. Then when they didn’t get their ransom, the buyers illegally exported STORIS to Mexico for scrapping, all with the federal government’s apparent blessing.

People keep saying that things need to change but we, as a country, keep electing corrupt people to positions of power. We DO need to change. And that’s not just hollow campaign rhetoric. There also needs to be accountability and consequences for people who are responsible for transgressions they commit in the name of doing OUR business. Whose best interests are they really serving? OURS or THEIRS?

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/OpEd-Firing-Poor-Performers-at-Veteran-Affairs-2014-05-31/

Remembering our nation's heroes this Memorial Day...and STORIS, too.

USS STORIS, CG (WAGL-38) during WWII while assigned to the Greenland Patrols

This Memorial Day weekend, we want to pay tribute to the memory of all of the men and women of the U.S. Armed Services who have made the supreme sacrifice for our country. Bless you all. No words are fully adequate to thank you and your families for your service and sacrifice. We will pause to remember you this weekend.

We also recognize this Memorial Day as the first in over 70 years that there is no more STORIS. Her memory and legacy will live on in the hearts and memories of all who served and cared about her. STORIS will never be forgotten even as she was forsaken by the very government that she and her crews so faithfully served over six decades.

Ex-ACUSHNET relisted on Ebay

The former USCGC ACUSHNET is back on Ebay. Now the price has dropped from $10 million to $1.1 million and the seller is demonstrating some desperate motivation in his verbiage about selling the ship ASAP.

I would certainly hate to see her lost like STORIS. This is sickening that the government allowed her to be put in this situation. We already know what the Coast Guard, GSA, EPA and MARAD teamed up to do with STORIS. Coast Guard and GSA get the blame for ACUSHNET. Ignored her history and disposed of her illegally through GSA instead of MARAD as required by federal law. It's doubtful that she is truly "PCB-free" as described by the Coast Guard.

There aren't very many of these classic warriors around to save anymore.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/213-6-FT-MILITARY-GRADE-CUTTER-/111356202067?forcerrptr=true&hash=item19ed58cc53&item=111356202067&pt=Power_Motorboats

The "Ask the Seller" section speaks volumes about the travesty about this situation. These crazy, hair-brained suggestions about using her for the set of a horror movie or as an oil-drilling ship only reinforce a total lack of understanding and respect for ACUSHNET and the potential for destruction for the ship's physical and historic integrity. 

This is a ship that is easily eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and likely a National Historic Landmark, but she has to stay intact for this eligibility to continue. ACUSHNET has a historic pedigree second only to STORIS and STORIS is now gone. Again, thank you U.S. Federal Government.

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&iid=111356202067&requested=odfic&redirect=0&frm=2047675&ShowASQAlways=1&ssPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI

Also, although she served in Alaska, she is NOT ice-rated. According to an ACUSHNET vet's posting on that FB page, that was one of the reasons why so much money was poured into ACUSHNET in 2008 after she threw a wheel. Someone from Alaska's Congressional delegation wanted the ship to stay in service for a couple more years because there was no immediate replacement coming and whoever it was thought ACUSHNET had the same ice capabilities that STORIS did, which she most certainly does not.

Appeal submitted to EPA for April 16 FOIA release

The appeal for the April 16 FOIA release from the EPA has been submitted. 

The appeal is posted here: http://goo.gl/EQJFDH

There are known documents that were not released in the FOIA request. There are also several key questions related to the disposition of the ship's electrical system. EPA claimed in the April 15 release that there were no import permits for the wiring to come back into the U.S. yet a reporter I spoke to said that she was told by the Mexican government that the electrical system was being sent back to the U.S. for recycling. Why would the most valuable part of the ship be sent back to the U.S. unless there was some kind of contamination such as the PCBs that we strongly suspected were there?

The appeal also requests the release of the redacted and withheld documents EPA kept back. If they didn't do anything wrong, why keep the documents back? The executive deliberation privilege also has to be justified in withholding documents, so EPA has to do that, as well.

110-foot WPB for sale through GSA. Where will she go?

Another cutter is for sale through GSA. This time, the tonnage of the 110-foot BAINBRIDGE ISLAND (WPB-1343) correctly falls under disposal through GSA. It's also unlikely that there are hazardous materials on board because of the build date. As this is posted, the price is already $100K, $30K more than what STORIS sold for in June 2013. STORIS was in excellent condition and while not as fast, had much more capability than this 110.

STORIS' displacement made her disposal legally mandated through MARAD, not GSA. She also likely contained hazardous materials that would have made her disposal and sale from the Coast Guard illegal, as well as her export. As a U.S. military ship, STORIS should not have been exported for scrapping. In the end, GSA practically gave STORIS away to be illegally exported for scrapping in Mexico. For what GSA received as a pittance for payment, STORIS could have been donated to the STORIS Museum and Last Patrol Museum to reap cultural and economic benefits far beyond what the government received.


The Coast Guard refers to aspects of BAINBRIDGE ISLAND as historic. While she did start  her career as the first cutter to have a minority female as CO (now Capt. Katherine Favery Tiongson), BAINBRIDGE ISLAND is not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as she is less than 50 years old and is not otherwise exceptional in construction or accomplishment to justify listing on the Register.


STORIS was listed as nationally significant on the National Register of Historic Places.


Despite having two viable nonprofits seeking custody of STORIS for preservation and use as an active museum/training vessel, the Federal Government sold STORIS at auction for a mere $70,100 to a so-called "metals recycling" firm that spent the rest of the summer of 2013 unsuccessfully trying to extort from the nonprofits up to five times what was paid for the ship. The buyer, U.S. Metals Recycling of San Diego, did not have the necessary facilities to scrap the ship domestically and had to resort to illegally exporting the ship to Mexico in order to make what could only have been a razor-thin profit by taking advantage of lower labor costs and lax environmental regulation in Mexico.



Where will BAINBRIDGE ISLAND go? Will this U.S. military ship go to scrap overseas in violation of Section 3502 of the 2009 Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act? Will the U.S. Government again break the law they put in place to prevent our American military ships from going to lesser-developed countries for breaking?