EPA quotes that the soil at the Astoria Marine Construction Co. site is contaminated by paint chips, sandblasted off ships and petroleum-based products which may prove to be harmful for the residents and employees both. These materials have led to contamination for Lewis and Clark River and the Jeffers Slough, in the Columbia River basin. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality was unsuccessful in getting the company to enter a voluntary cleanup program which resulted in listing of company in the federal Superfund cleanup sites. According to company officials they don’t have the resources to fight proposed EPA listing. This company used to build wooden Navy minesweepers during World War II.

The Klamath Falls site involves the North Ridge Estates which contains asbestos which came from the remains from roofing, siding and tiles used to construct 82 buildings at the Marine Recuperation Barracks during the mid-1940s. This building was the home of Oregon Institute of Technology until 1964. Large number of buildings were made and demolished in this property and the asbestos was dumped in waste piles and burial pits but was exposed due to corrosion. This contamination was removed from 2003 to 2009 but according to reports of EPA, the asbestos was not permanently eliminated.

In the construction and advanced renovation of its general and war ships, the U.S. Navy and the country’s commercial maritime industry has largely made high use of all types of asbestos on navy ships. Shipbuilders and laborers who involved for the all kind of repair or refurbishment are often in the status of high danger of  asbestos exposure and inhaling all types of asbestos particles which cause asbestos risk for veterans. The two new specifications released by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) minimize the environmental problems and the danger to workers assigned with dismantling the vessels.

There are effective methods provided as per one of the new ISO documents, ISO/PAS 30007:2010, “measures to prevent asbestos emission and exposure during ship recycling,” in order to minimize the common dangers of asbestos generally during ship recycling by reducing both the release of asbestos into the environment and asbestos exposure to workers. The other specification (PAS), 30006:2010, provides diagrams to show the location of hazardous materials on vessels. These new standards help to ensure when ships are being recycled. Both these specifications help to provide market expectations related to environment, safety, health and welfare matters in the ship recycling industry.

The asbestos navy ship caught fire two weeks ago and since then the company that will handle the demolition announced that the work is set to overrun by four months. Members of the environmental organization opposed the French ship arrival in town, because they know the health risk that can be caused by exposure to asbestos. People around the dismantling area can be exposed to asbestos fibers found in the toxic air produced by the dismantling action.

Meanwhile, the ship arrived on February 8 with the help of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulation 2007 which gave the dismantling firm 12 months to finish the work and take safety measures for people around and inform everybody about the health risks in case of asbestos contact.

Probably the project will be ended in late June because of a thin coating of asbestos.
The manager at the Environmental Agency said that” Able UK provided details of progress to date to recover the ship, a detailed program of their work plans, for the recovery planned to be ended in June.

Glyn Wheeler, the manager at the Able UK dismantling firm said that the highest safety will be taken and part of the ship where access is limited only people with great experience in asbestos dismantling will take action.

He also said that more then 70% of the total asbestos containing materials were already removed from the vessel and the rest will be removed until the end of April.

Asbestos exposure can cause mesothelioma cancer, a rare form of cancer which is practically deadly if not detected on time.

Capitan John Marrak also volunteered for service in submarines in 1943, but he was sent again as a First Lieutenant to another destroyer called Vigilant. When working on the Vigilant he became aware about the asbestos danger. This vas shortly before the builders sprayed the inside of the vessel to combat the Artic cold. Later, Marrak was also trained in the Vindictive cruiser and he joined the battleship Nelson.

After he attended the postwar gunnery course in 1945 Capitan Marrak and Terry Lewin, one of his classmates, were selected for the “dagger” gunnery course and shortly after that they where selected for the most intellectually course initiated by the US Navy.

After a few years, Marrak continued by serving as a gunnery officer on different ships. In year 1955 he joined the Directorate of Naval Ordnance. He started to command the testing area at the Cardigan Bay time in which he realized that propellants liquids that tented to burn trough the propellants tubes are very dangerous. He was also the fist in duty to conduct for the first time tests shipboard on Seaslug shipboard  in the Girdleness trials.

He was named Capitan in 1962 and during the period trough the 1967-1969 he was a naval attaché in Bonn. Between 1970 and 1972 he served as a head of naval manpower future policy division.
He retired right after 1972, and in short time he become the administrative manager for Dawson, a firm of solicitors located in New Square. At the beautiful age of 88 years old, on November 7, 2009 Capitan John Marrak died.

He is known and remembered as a busy destroyer officer in the Second World War.

The USS Saipan

The USS Saipan was part of the U.S Navy. She was decommissioned and struck in 2007, from the Naval Vessel Register after 30 years of serving the country.
Until October 2008, Saipan was berthed at the reserve shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
International Shipbreaking said that this will be the first largest 28,000 tones ship ever scrapped by the company.
They also said that it will be great operations and workers are fully prepared to scrap the ship as soon as possible. High conditions of safety were developed for this great operation.
USS Saipan will be the first of the Tarawa class first big deck to be scrapped.

Removing asbestos

International Shipbreaking worker will first remove all asbestos materials from the ship and after will continue scraping the ship in small but they will also save some parts of the ship that will be use for other ships.
Is well known that asbestos products and materials were widely used in manufacturing the vessels of the U.S Navy ships. They used those materials and products because of their specific properties, not knowing at that time that asbestos exposure can lead to mesothelioma cancer.
Other ships, veteran ships, part of the U.S Navy, will be also verified, and if containing asbestos, measures will be taken.
Asbestos is the main cause for developing mesothelioma cancer. Mesothelioma or asbestosis can be fatal if not treated in time. It is very hard to diagnose this type of cancer because symptoms can appear even after 40 years of exposure.
People who have had contact with exposure present a higher risk to develop mesothelioma.

Other ships were sunk, like Belleau Wood, but Peleliu and Nassau are still in service.
The Saipan, which is 28,000 tones, will arrive in Brownsville, Texas, in November, and some workers form International Shipbreaking will start carving the ship.

It will be a big operation but it is necessary to do so for the well being of the nation.
Dangerous materials, containing asbestos will be removed in safety conditions for the scrapped workers, and some parts of the ship will be returned to US Navy.
The Saipan is the first Tarawa-class big-deck to be ever scrapped and is the largest ship ever scrapped by International Shipbreaking.

Asbestos was usually used in shipbuilding constructions. Many used components contained asbestos fibers. Asbestos was used because it has important proprieties like resistance to fire, water, and corrosion. Shipyards workers were permanently exposed to
risk of developing mesothelioma, an asbestos related disease. Decommission of The Saipan is the best thing to do for the well being of the people.

After reaching the United States, Mr. Folston enlisted in the US Navy and served again in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He served on several ships, in different regions of the War front.
He was sent to the Reserve Fleet on the 22nd of November 1963, the very same day President Kennedy was assassinated. He finally retired ten years later, in 1973. He remained an active member of the Veterans society in his region until the day he died. Billy Richard Folston was one of the most important members of the above mentioned society, providing with lots of benefits to his former colleagues.

Billy Folston had all the hobbies and passions of a normal man of his age. He enjoyed camping and fishing, showing his children and grandchildren the beauty of nature. Mr. Folston worked as a laundryman at the local Women’s and Children’s Medical Center facility. He was loved and he loved his last job because it was helping people that he most loved to do.

Billy Richard Folston is survived by his wife, eight children, 25 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. All of them wish to thank the doctors and staff that helped treats their loved one and eased the pain caused by mesothelioma.

Archerd was probably exposed to asbestos during his activity in the United States Navy, between the forties and fifties. The exact place the exposure occurred could have been one of the navy’s ships Archerd worked in. His disease only came alive around two years before his death, when he was already 85. In the last few weeks the state of Archerd’s health suddenly took a turn for the worse, resulting in his death.

His wife told reporters that Archerd was the love of her life. Actually named Armand, Archerd was born in 1922 and served the Navy during the Second World War. He was the initial source of many important celebrity stories. Army Archerd was the first to announce the wedding of Annette Bening to Warren Beatty, back in 1992. Fans say that he got the story from the actor himself. He was known for the fact that he had many phone numbers of some of the most important Hollywood people.

Army Archerd, similar to other naval employees, got exposed to asbestos during his active service in one of the many Naval Shipyards of the United States. This type of exposure results 20 percent of the time in mesothelioma cancer, which is deadly and not curable at the moment. This has been a common disease for Navy veterans for several decades.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that remains latent for up to 65 years, or even longer. The death of Army Archerd proves this theory correct. One of the most unfortunate characteristics of mesothelioma is the fact that it exhibits symptoms that are common to other milder disease, such as flu or a common cold.

We gladly inform any veteran that is suffering from meothelioma that he or she can choose to receive veteran health support from the United States Government. This is one benefit that everyone should profit from. Medical expertise is provided by professional oncologists.

The USS Escape was decommissioned in 1995, after serving for almost two decades in the Coast Guard. After the decommissioning, the USS Escape has been part of a fleet of ships that were rusting away. This fleet can be found in the James River off Newport News, Virginia.

Soon, USS Escape will be scrapped by a company known as Bay Bridge Enterprises. It will be towed with all of its 1630 tons and every part of it will be sold to a steel company. This will cost the United States 115,200 US Dollars.

In the past, the government did not pay for this recycling of old merchant-class ships. United States based recycling companies used to bid for these ships to the Maritime Administration. Things have changed due to the economy being very poor, and also because of the asbestos these ships contain. Asbestos being part of the ships means that before being scrapped, the ship will need an abatement work done.

A representative of the Maritime Administration said that they put the ships up for sale and hope someone buys them.

Before the economic crisis the Maritime Administration received a bid of 3.5 millions dollars for four ships. After approximately two months, the bidders cancelled their offers due to the crisis beginning.

In the end, after another few months, the United States government, and even a veterans association, had to pay 1,8 million to the recycling company. The price of steel is the largest variable for such operations, and salvagers like Bay Bridge depend on that price. As stated above, asbestos and other problems on the ship take time and money to solve before scrapping the ship.

The Maritime administration owns the reserve fleet, which is made up of several types of ships, mainly from former Navy vessels and merchant ships. Each ship that is not in use anymore is added to a list and will be waiting to be disposed off as soon as possible, and with as low as possible costs.

Until recently, the Maritime Administration was still selling ships, most of them to outside scrapping companies. In recent years though, the sending of ships overseas was banned due to environmental issues.