2010-11_ANNUAL_REPORTS_-_FINAL_VERSION_(3)

IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT
Over the past two years, the Maritime Administration has expanded its efforts to address major
environmental challenges in marine transportation, such as aquatic invasive species in ships’ ballast
water, and port and vessel air emissions and energy use. At the same time, the evolution of MARAD’s
role in port infrastructure redevelopment and promotion of marine highways brought new opportunities to
advance environmental sustainability. In addition to external achievements, MARAD took on the
Obama Administration’s challenge to address environmental sustainability in its own activities, by
focusing on energy use and environmental management in its fleets and facilities.
Ship Recycling
Over the past two years, MARAD has dramatically improved the performance of one of its most visible
missions: the storage and final disposal of America’s aging ships. Over the preceding decade, the
agency had successfully removed and disposed of scores of vessels at reserve fleet sites in Texas and
Virginia, but progress in California was stalled until the Obama Administration took office in 2009, with
57 obsolete ships awaiting disposal in MARAD’s reserve fleet at Suisun Bay near Benicia, CA. These
ships posed environmental threats because of peeling paint and because some contained petroleum
products and other polluting substances. The best way to remediate the situation was to remove the
ships from the site, but no ships had departed Suisun Bay since January 2007 due to environmental
regulatory conflicts, which prevented MARAD from removing the ships for disposal. The issues
included the use of best available in-water hull cleaning technology to control the transfer of
nonindigenous marine species, the cleaning of exfoliating paint from ships awaiting disposal and the
Clean Water Act that regulates discharges into State waters.
MARAD focused on a solution that would preserve the environment, allow for the disposal of the ships,
and not be solely reactionary. After reviewing the history of the case, then-Acting Deputy Maritime
Administrator David Matsuda began efforts to improve the environmental impact of the fleet. He
requested a settlement conference with a coalition of local environmental groups, which took place in
San Francisco, CA in February 2009. In July 2009 they proposed a consent decree, which was approved
on April, 14, 2010.
By then, the Maritime Administration had already removed five SBRF vessels for disposal. Under the
consent decree, MARAD promised to remove 10 more ships in fiscal year 2010. We showed our good
faith by towing eleven by September 30, 2010, and a total of 26 by the close of fiscal year 2011.
Further progress was hindered in part because in 2010 there were no qualified ship-recycling facilities
on the Pacific coast of the United States. All contracts for recycling were awarded to qualified firms on
the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, requiring the ships to be towed through the Panama Canal. In FY 2011,
MARAD was able to certify Allied Defense Recycling (ADR) to begin dismantling ships at their Mare
Island facility, adding a Pacific coast ship disposal option for the first time since MARAD began
qualifying ship recycling facilities in 2001.
Ballast Water Treatment Technology and Invasive Species
Spurred by the increasing urgency felt by Federal and State governments to address aquatic invasive
species in ship ballast water, MARAD worked with Federal agencies including NOAA, EPA, USCG,
and the Fish and Wildlife Service to test, verify, and certify ballast-water treatment technologies.
During fiscal year 2010, MARAD received $3 million for ballast-water technology verification in
support of EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Some of these funds were provided to the Great
Ships Initiative to upgrade the Great Lakes land-based testing facility in Superior, WI, in order to
conduct verification of ballast-water treatment technologies.
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