Hartlepools on the map again,Toxic Waste Dumps,The Closest Nuclear Power Station to a habited town in the world,Chemical Plants,and now dismantling Shit ridden ships that nobody else would touch,by a micky mouse company with one of the worst Health&Saftey records in the country,and Paying hard up workers shite money.

Well done Mr Mayor,well done our marvellous council,i just hope i get those 6(+Bonus) numbers up sometime soon.

Shhhhhh the mayor had nowt to do with, he can't be to blamefor anything bad that happens in hartlepool, he's a poolie you know!

On a serious note, I think its better they are dismantled in the UK, rather then on a beach in India or some other place that will just drop the shite back into the sea

I've just nearly p1ssed meself wi your quote at the bottom there!

Why the Ghost Ships should not be dismantled here
1) The Proximity Principle

There is an internationally agreed principle for the treatment of hazardous materials which says that they should be dealt with as close to the source as possible.

Exporting decaying and highly toxic ships across the Atlantic is extremely dangerous, especially considering that the US has the capabilities to deal with them safely itself. In the same way that the US should deal with its own ships, so the UK should deal with its own.

2) Although the UK does need a facility for the scrapping of its own decommissioned ships, there are powerful arguments for it not being located on Teesside.

The area already has a very high concentration of heavy industry and suffers from problems of pollution and contamination. Local people feel very strongly that their health and local environment are already heavily compromised by these kinds of activities.

The proposed dock facility is also very close to a major wildlife site of international importance which would suffer severe damage if a pollution incident were to occur during the dismantling work

If anyones in doubt about the quality of the work done by Able Uk,read this objection by a former employee.

http://www.impact-teesside.org/Impact/h ... ection.htm

I've just read that letter, and it is extremely disturbing that this company may not be all it says it is, and that the HSE has been unable to prosecute it in the past despite a woeful safety record.
The MD of that firm should have made his way into politics, he would be PM by now!!!!

that is a long letter

Like "W"?

I'm glad it's here....better than on some beach in the 3rd world!!!!

Plus so many pressure groups and Government Bodies will be watching them closely....they'll have to do the job to 100% satisfaction and safety etc!!!!

I'm hoping to get a job with them aswell!!!!

The council should of stood firm on this one, there may be some jobs created but at what cost? It seems that a few porkies have been told to get the ships here in the first place. Is it really worth risking the health or even lives of local people to sort this mess out for a few jobs....?

Good idea Mr Catweasle - however we live in a country were prisoners have the right to sue for being deprived of heroin so it isn't going to happen....

Because the bloke at Able UK allegedley has blagged himself a contract doing something he allegedley knows little about with limited facilities to do the job. It's on our doorstep, and very few people who've had any sort of connection to Able UK seem to have a good word to say about them.

Sorry Mr Atweasle - easy mistake to make, you aren't going to get me banned from the bunker are you...?

Do you Think Stan "Fat Arse"Kaiser would have been in favour of it if it had been anywhere near fooking Elwick.?

Nuclear power station, biggest concentration of chemical industries in Europe, the steel industry and God knows what else ...and not forgetting the ritual burning of rubbish every weekend from the Longhill area, which no one seems to give a hoot about ....... I think the powers that be know just what they can get away with as it seems the locals are incredibly slow on the reaction stakes uptake.

I see the ghost ships as potential for good.

Hartlepool can reinvent itself as a town of experts at disposing hazardous ships.

It could be an opportunity to create dozens, possibly hundreds of proper skilled jobs. In my dad's era Hartlepool was home to thousands of gadgies plying their trades in heavy industries. Working in Garlands hardly compares does it?

Greenpeace, Environment Agency etc will be watching Able like hawks. One foot out of line and you can guarantee the media will be all over it.

If Able can successfully dismantle the ships that are currently there, I'm pretty sure there'll be demand for them to sort out hundreds if not thousands of ships from around the world.

Hartlepool could become known as an example of good environmental practice, attracting the investment is has lacked for decades.

I heard a councillor on the radio a while back opposing the ships, saying that they would harm the image of the town, as they wanted it to be seen as a tourist town. Tourism survives on paying staff low wages. Industry requires proper skills, which people get paid decent money for. Would she rather her descendants worked in a ticket office for minimum wage, or a decent wage for a skilled job?

let the prisoners dismantle them supervised obviously and let them kip in the smelly rotten things as well

Im afraid you are sadly misguided my friend.These are NOT skilled jobs,and the low wages this company pays means that you wont get a proper tradesman anywhere near the place.
This is demolition,and the people who work for Able are labourers,some with the ability to use oxy/acetylene gas cutters,or electric grinders.These workers have no representation,and therefore work in conditions specified by the company,and with no union,these people are there to make a few quid,and then they are down the road.
How can you say Hartlepool could be an example of good enviromental practice,when all Able are doing is stripping Blue Asbestos,contaminated fuels,and god knows what else,and burying it in the ground less than 2 miles away from Seaton Carew?.This,by the way,the company that tried to slip under the radar,and do the work without any enviromental control in the first place,until they where found out,and it was brought to the publics attention.

The reputation Hartlepool has now,is the reputation that brought these ships here in the first place,a dumping ground for the shit nobody else wants...Tall Ships Race?...dont make me laugh.

because of the ghosts surely

Send the phuqing ships back......

let's hope all the ships built here over the years aren't sent back eh...? or did they all just sail into the sunset over the last 150 years?

if the containment isn't done correctly, asbestos particles would frequently blow over the town with any southerly winds.
To give us an idea of how deadly asbestos is, teachers have been known to get asbestosis in schools from merely pushing drawing pins into asbestos-lined walls, so people mustn't forget that the accumulation of the tiniest amount of particles over a period of years will cause the onset of this incurable cancer.

The ships could be left but they are supposedly dropping to bits, and how long do you leave them for? 50, 100, 200 years.

It doesn't soun like a big deal, all AbleUK want to do is take some ships to bits but the company are far from experts in doing this.

Would you want your son, brother or any family member working there doing the job? Do we really want Hartlepool to be known is the waste dump for the world?

if we were talking about a reputable and ethical firm, then there shouldn't be a problem. Therein lies said problem!!! I think HSE and EA should investigate this firm a little more closely with all the allegations about them.

they'd be ideal for those nerdy paintballers

the world's best Quasar ever!!!

A very good point well put Mr.Snowy!!!!

But it seems the 'scaremongerers' have nothing to say about your very well put point!!!!

We ,ve had Petrochemical industries around the Tees for years as well as a Nuclear Power station, personally i don.t think the dismantling of Ships is any more dangerous than other industry in that area.
Able will have to be on their best behaviour as they,ll be under intense scrutiny from the HSE,HBC, and Environmental Agencies.

it's the manner and methods of dismantling that is concerning people. This firm has a reputation as a cowboy outfit according to a lot of testimonials of folks who have worked there.
I've worked in the chemical industry on Billingham for 21 years, and the safety standards are very high, and the environmental controls now are very very stringent.
It would not sit comfortably with folks if an allegedly half-ar$ed company started carving up ships with little means of knowing how they were really handling the waste materials.

[quote="ADG"]I havent read anything that suggests these ships are a danger whilst they remain untouched.



I give up.

It's not a case of scare moguring, parmopooly is spot on......

My gran died from lung cancer caused by asbestosis. She got it presumably from working in a laundry, handling asbestos-covered overalls. However this was decades ago, I'm pretty sure the powers that be will keep an incredibly close eye on things.

?

I love how everyone gets the vapours over this but turns a blind eye to all the other shit around us ...if you live in a sewage tank, what difference does a fart make .... funny how people don't give a toss ..... till it's on the telly.

I love how the grey changes colour as the light conditions vary.............
...just a thought, but does anybody in this country actually make anything to sell to other countries anymore or are we all gonna become a nation of hair stylists and global warming out reach co-ordinators eventually...?

The 'seal' on seal sands, now refers to the joints on various pipes and not the fat blubbery fish noshers on the mudflats.

When they came, I loved how the people of Hartlepool were gonna turn up in their thousands and ...and we eneded up with half a dozen activists shouting into the wind.....funny thing is, there's always this 'they should go back to America to be scrapped' debate ... so where do British ships go to be scrapped and just ho w toxic is British scrap compared to other nations scrap..will you get lung cancer off American asbestos but not British asbestos...?

FOR YEARS...the people of this area have welcomed shit industries that have blighted this area with heavy industry, yet when this comes along, they awake from their slumbers and have a dicky fit... too late, your history of meek acceptance of the big polluters has eaten away your credibility to halt the little ones.

I'm not arsed what the ships look like, I just hope that the experts that are Able UK do a proper job now they have been given the green light. And most importantly I hope the people who will be working on the ships are given the right training and safety equipment to do the job without causing any harm.

There was an article in the Echo today about them, were some pressure group used the rather emotive 'time bombs' term to describe them (God knows what that makes the rest of the area then )... anyway, after a rather long winded exercise in repetition, paint is also a problem ...any way, the North East Friends of the Earth said "I don't know why the US has to send it's old ships to the UK for dismantling, anyway. All ships should be broken up at home...and that includes our own" ...so you have it, we get the ships anyway, it'll just be lovable good old cuddly British asbestos instead of that nasty, toxic, evil Yankee stuff......so it's all OK then...
As a footnote to the report, the Environment Agency said.." The Environment Agency's priority has always been to ensure the that the vessels pose no environmental risk. We take regular water samples and check the ballast levels." ...I await the arrival of Grassy Knollington.

I wasnt old enough to have say on the Nuclear Power Station,nor the endless Chemical bilge thats pumped into our lungs from Seal Sands.So what do you do,cos we`ve got all of that shit,lets have some more?.

I take it you didnt bother to read what was the 5th post on this thread,but as you seem oblivious to this issue,i`ll repost for you.


Why the Ghost Ships should not be dismantled here
1) The Proximity Principle

There is an internationally agreed principle for the treatment of hazardous materials which says that they should be dealt with as close to the source as possible.

Exporting decaying and highly toxic ships across the Atlantic is extremely dangerous, especially considering that the US has the capabilities to deal with them safely itself. In the same way that the US should deal with its own ships, so the UK should deal with its own.

2) Although the UK does need a facility for the scrapping of its own decommissioned ships, there are powerful arguments for it not being located on Teesside.

The area already has a very high concentration of heavy industry and suffers from problems of pollution and contamination. Local people feel very strongly that their health and local environment are already heavily compromised by these kinds of activities.

The proposed dock facility is also very close to a major wildlife site of international importance which would suffer severe damage if a pollution incident were to occur during the dismantling work

If anyones in doubt about the quality of the work done by Able Uk,read this objection by a former employee.

http://www.impact-teesside.org/Impact/h ... ection.htm

What I find annoying, is the fact that in this town, at locations much closer than graythorp, skiploads of crap, from out of town are dumped for 'recycling'... the evidence is there before our eyes, but does anyone give a toss....? NO, because there are no emotive media reports complete with dramatic names to scare people shitless, meanwhile those who are polluting the air we breathe carry on.
I also suspect the vessels in question wouldn't have aroused the same attention if they'd originated from somewhere in Europe, even though the end result is almost the same.
IF.... the finger of blame has to be pointed somewhere, shouldn't it be those who gave permission for the landfill at Seaton in the first place .... I believe it's called cause and effect...if you put a sign up inviting dogs to shit in your garden...guess what'll happen. DON'T BLAME THE DOG, BLAME THE IDIOT WHO PUT THE SIGN UP!