Press Releases - ABLE

COMPANY CALLS ON AGENCY TO WITHDRAW STATEMENTS
13/11/03

Able UK has called for the Environment Agency to withdraw a range of damaging statements—including a suggestion that the company is in breach of international law over its contract for the recycling of redundant American vessels.

A letter from solicitors acting for the company informs the Agency that it has received clear legal advice that it is fully authorised to bring the vessels into its TERRC (Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre) at Graythorp under the terms of the of the existing TransFrontier Shipment approval.

The letter points out that the Environment Agency under the terms of the approval had a period in which to object but did not do so—in fact it signified its consent by stamping the ‘consignment note’ for the shipment—adding that the there is ‘no provision or procedure’ for revoking the licence.

The Able lawyers tell the Environment Agency that ‘your contention that the authorisation is invalid is incorrect. Your contention that the ships must be returned is also incorrect.’ They go on to require the Environment Agency to issue a statement correcting its previous statements on these issues.

Meanwhile the company is now preparing to receive the second of the US vessels, the Canisteo, at its facility following the successful arrival of the Caloosahatchee yesterday—proof says Able UK Managing Director Peter Stephenson that descriptions of the ships such as ‘rotting hulks’ and ‘floating timebombs’ have been totally without foundation.

Explained Mr Stephenson “I believe that now that people have the chance to see the reality of the ships rather than the horror stories which have been peddled by Friends of the Earth and others, they will see that they have been victims of a quite disgraceful campaign of misrepresentation and manipulation.

“We were told that these ships would never make it across the Atlantic, that they would break up—even that you could put a hammer through their hulls! Well, as the public can now see, those claims were a total nonsense and so are the claims that they pose a serious environmental hazard.

“We have now had the Secretary of State for the Environment, the Environment Agency, and local MPs all making clear that these ships pose no more dangers than most other vessels operating around our coasts…and in fact are less potential of having a detrimental effect on the environment than many ships coming in and out of the River Tees on a daily basis, not least because they do not contain any cargo.

“I hope that we can now move towards an end to the scaremongering and the start of a sensible discussion based on facts rather than fiction—also that the agencies with whom we need to work to find a solution to the current uncertainties will call a halt to statements which are both inaccurate and damaging, not just to our company’s interests, but to the efforts to attract new jobs and investment into the region.”

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