FLOATING METAL JUNKYARD NEEDS CLEANUP SOLUTION!

I grew up a good portion of my life in Concord. One of the things I used to enjoy as a teenager was fishing near the "mothball fleet" in the Suisun Bay. This is when Benicia was a sleepy community with barely five thousand residents, and a downtown made up of bars or antique shops.

What’s changed? Where do I start? We used to think the closer we anchored off the fleet the better chance we had of catching a sturgeon - something we are now warned not to eat at risk to our health. Benicia is also now the jewel of the Suisun Bay, in my opinion. Great homes, great schools, a vibrant main street and downtown and wonderful people who care about our city, county and country.

Though we do have people who argue over ‘global warming’ and other such controversial issues, I believe that 90% or more share the same concern I do about the once majestic fleet of ghost ships that make up the ‘mothball fleet’ (actually the official name for this obsolete group of vessels is the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet). Some of these ships go back to World War II vintage. Which begs the question "what are they being held in reserve for?" I don’t know, nor can anyone in charge give a concise answer. Nor what they will ultimately do to rid us of this once picturesque, but now toxic, decaying floating metal junkyard.

According to the people in charge - well, it’s a complicated question. The actual controlling governmental agency is the U.S. Maritime Administration. Part of their solution to cleaning up these now toxic ships is to have them towed through the Panama Canal to Brownsville, Texas to be dismantled for scrap metal.

There are various problems with this plan. First, the U.S. Coast Guard has indicated it would want the cruddy species that are attached to the ship’s hulls scraped before the ships are scrapped or moved. But wait, this would probably then leave large hunks of paint loaded with toxic materials, which would sink to the bottom of the brackish waters and further pollute the Suisun Bay. The officials of the Panama Canal would also not throw a welcome party to have these rust buckets pulled through the canal. In fact, most likely, they would nix any such plan.

So is there a solution? Probably, but it looks like with most governmental clean up issues it will not get done quickly, efficiently or possibly in my lifetime. I’ve had a colleague suggest having them hauled out to sea about 50 or so miles and sinking them for fish habitat. Of course, though there is merit to this idea (but one that would never get government approval), in my opinion, the only thing I (and you) can do is request help from our Congressman George Miller to see if he can’t use his influence to move things along. In my opinion it will take congressional action to finally get a resolve to this issue. Please join me in making a call (or writing a letter, faxing or emailing) to Congressman Miller at his local office headquarters: 375 G Street, Suite #1 Vallejo, CA 94592 - (707) 645-1888 - Fax: (707) 645-1870 or email address George.Miller@mail.house.gov.