Obsolete fleet hardly shipshape, called environmental `time bomb'.

From: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) | Date: May 19, 2006 | Copyright information

Byline: Thomas Peele

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ Obsolete ships anchored in Suisun Bay have decayed so much that the U.S. government sometimes pays more to scrap just one of them than it spends in a year to maintain the entire fleet, federal documents show.

Hazardous materials including asbestos, PCBs, lead paint, mercury, chromates, toxic tin and arsenic are omnipresent in the fleet.

What makes the ships expensive to get rid of also makes them dangerous. The vessels, many of them World War II relics, must be made safe enough to stay afloat for the 45-day tow to Texas ...

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