United States Maritime Administration (MARAD), Hazardous Material Removal from Obsolete Ships at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet

The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) keeps a reserve fleet of government ships at anchor in Suisun Bay. Many ships no longer needed for national defense ("non-retention" vessels) had deteriorated over decades, and flaking paint from their decks and hulls was a pollution concern for the bay. In March 2010, the federal government filed an agreement with environmental groups in federal court that set binding requirements for cleaning and removing the ships (US Department of Justice, 2010).

Approach

A binding, dated removal schedule. The 20 ships in the poorest condition had to be removed by 30 September 2012, and all remaining non-retention ships by 30 September 2017 (US Department of Justice, 2010).

Contain hazardous paint while ships wait. Flaking paint had to be cleaned from the remaining ships within two years, and horizontal surfaces cleaned every 90 days. The fleet was inspected monthly and quarterly, and stormwater runoff was sampled and tested. No new ships with excess flaking paint could be brought to the site (US Department of Justice, 2010).

Clean before towing. Before each ship was towed to a recycling facility, it was drydocked to remove marine growth and degraded paint from the underwater hull. This also reduced the risk of moving invasive species, and averaged about US$500,000 per ship (MARAD, n.d.).

Use qualified recycling facilities. Ships went to facilities that MARAD qualifies for their capability to dispose of vessels while protecting the environment and worker health and safety. Asbestos, PCBs and loose exterior paint are hazardous material streams with remediation costs that MARAD plans for, and US law prohibits exporting PCBs, so recycling took place domestically (MARAD, n.d.).

Report on compliance. MARAD filed quarterly status reports under the decree. They recorded each vessel removal and the paint and debris removed by shoveling, HEPA vacuuming and sweeping into drums under the fleet's Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (MARAD, 2017).

Results

All 57 non-retention vessels were removed from Suisun Bay by August 2017, two months ahead of the deadline. Twenty-seven were sold for recycling, earning about US$30 million. Of this, about US$7.5 million went to maritime academies and about US$3.75 million to the National Park Service Maritime Heritage Grant Program (US Department of Transportation, 2017). Total quantities of paint and other hazardous materials removed were not reported in the sources reviewed.