No Ship at Avoca

Download the test results for lead paint on the HMAS Adelaide undetaken during the AAT Hearing after the lead was discovered by community funded marine engineer and ship recycling expert Mr Werner Hoyt. Download PDF.

The average pure lead content is 28% and varies up to 40%. The lab warns not to use these results to average amounts of lead on the ship. This is how the State calculated lead levels of 750 kg - 2.3 tonnes of lead in the lead paint.

The lead paint covers most of the 23,000 metres sq interior and the AAT orders only require the removal of ‘exfoliating’ lead paint before the ship is scuttled.

Information on Lead from Dr Peter deFur in response to State Government reports that the lead is inert.

1. Lead Oxides

1. a.) The additional reports include the opinion that lead is completely inert. Lead oxides are not very soluble, but they can be acted upon and changed by organisms in the environment to make them bioavailable.
1. b.) Lead tetroxide, Pb3O4 (red lead) is a lead oxide, as is PbO and PbO2, and chemically similar in its activity.
1. c.) Studies on PbO and PbO2 show their ability to solubilize under certain conditions.

2. Microbial Activity

2. a.) Under anaerobic conditions, organic compounds can reduce metal oxides from a higher to a lower oxidation state (i.e. remove or add oxygen).
2. b.) Along with oxidation, conversion of lead compounds is possible by bacteria. Bacteria produce hydrogen sulphide, a byproduct of utilizing sulphur-containing amino acids, which can interact with lead creating lead sulphide.
2. c.) Microorganisms play a role in reducing metal oxides by direct or indirect action: directly by enzymatic dissolution and indirectly due to production of metabolites such as acids and chelating agents that can lower pH.
2. d .) Bacteria has the ability to oxidize bivalent lead (add oxygen to a metal).
2. e .) Lead can form a weak complex with organic acids and data shows that significant amounts of solubilized lead was taken up by bacterial biomass, which produce organic metabolites.
2. f.) Bacteria and other microorganisms constitute the base of the food chain, and although lead is not known to biomagnify up the food chain, lead can bioaccumulate in the tissues of organisms.

3. Aquatic uptake

3. a.) We know that lead uptake by aquatic organisms occurs through water by absorption through skin, gills and intestine, as well as by food.
3. b.) A wide range of aquatic organisms can absorb and accumulate very high lead concentrations, and the resident time of lead is related to the route of uptake.
3. c.) The vessel will corrode and break down over time. These small particles of the very toxic red lead in the vessel paint will become bioavailable and be consumed by reef organisms via water and food.

The Basel Action Network, a global toxic trade watchdog organization, claimed victory today as the U.S. Navy confirmed it had changed its decision to scuttle the aircraft carrier USS FORRESTAL, choosing instead to have the ship recycled here in the United States.

This change followed the December 2010 release of BAN’s report “Jobs and Dollars Overboard: The Economic Case Against Dumping U.S. Naval Vessels at Sea.” BAN estimates that the recycling of the FORRESTAL will save millions of taxpayer dollars, create approximately 500 green jobs in the domestic recycling industry, and create about 1,900 jobs in the overall economy[1] for one year.

In addition to the FORRESTAL, the Navy now says it will recycle three other retired carriers: the SARATOGA, INDEPENDENCE, and CONSTELLATION. In past years, these vessels would all have been dumped at sea as artificial reefs or as part of the Navy’s costly sinking exercise program (SINKEX). For example, the aircraft carriers AMERICA and ORISKANY were both scuttled, costing taxpayers over $20 million each.

“The Obama Administration’s new plan to recycle these four aircraft carriers appears to be a signal that the Administration may be correcting long-standing misguided policies that not only squander resources, but American jobs as well,” said Colby Self, BAN’s Green Ship Recycling Campaign Director.

Read More.

ALMOST a year after ex-HMAS Adelaide was to be sunk off Avoca Beach, controversy continues to rage over the scuttling.

The No Ship Action Group is calling for more studies following reports that the Adelaide’s sister ship, ex-HMAS Canberra, which was scuttled 2.3km off Ocean Grove, Victoria, in 2009, has created problems.

But Parks Victoria is downplaying the problems and the Central Coast Community Environment Network is maintaining cautious approval of scuttling the Adelaide.

Read full article online here  Express Advocate - 17-02-2011

Media Release - 03-02-2011

A Former Chief Medical Officer of Australia has called on Member for Terrigal Chris Hartcher to stop the scuttling of the HMAS Adelaide because of environmental concerns.

Dr Tony Adams said “as a professional expert in public health I am worried about potential health threats posed by dumping toxic materials in the sea no matter how concentrated or diluted they may be. The precautionary principle must apply.”

The Keneally State Government planned to dump the ex-HMAS Adelaide 1.6km off Avoca Beach in March last year. But a local community group, the No Ship Action Group (NSAG) appealed the Sea Dumping Permit through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which ruled that the scuttling could proceed under certain conditions. Conditions included removing all electrical cabling and junction boxes which might contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), exfoliating lead paint and 23,000 sq m of fibreglass insulation covered in canvas.

However, a Freedom of Information request has revealed the State Government does not intend to remove all cables and junction boxes from the warship as ordered.  An email sent in September by the Project Manager appointed by the NSW Lands Department states:  “In relation to PCBs, we would have to test the interpretation of the Tribunal’s words (“Likely to contain PCBS”, “might be associated with PCBs”) but at this stage we would expect that there would be minimal (or nil) work required to meet this condition.” Cables throughout the vessel tested positive for PCBs during tests conducted in May last year by the State Government.

The majority of the 23 000 sq m of lead paint will remain on the vessel as only ‘exfoliating’ paint must be removed and the paint is currently intact.

While the navy has disposed of five former warships around the country as artificial reefs it has not all been smooth sailing.

The Adelaide’s sister ship the ex-HMAS Canberra was sunk just 15 months ago in Octber 2009 near Geelong, Victoria. Already the ex-HMAS Canberra has tipped from its starting angle of just 3 degrees to a massive angle of 26 degrees. On January 28, 2011 a Hazard Warning Advice Notice for the ex HMAS Canberra Dive Site was issued by Parks Victoria as a large number of items have come loose from the vessel, including the helicopter hanger which has separated from the vessel.

The issue of the intended scuttling of the ex-HMAS Adelaide is gaining momentum with the community. 4000 letters have been signed and will be sent to key politicians. Letters were signed by visitors to the Avoca Beach area over the holiday period. When people from NSAG spoke to beachgoers on Australia Day 90 percent of them were not aware of what was happening and were appalled at the proposal.

Dr Adams said, “Basically too it is just plain dumb to throw expensive metal garbage into the sea simply for recreational purposes. It is environmental vandalism at the very least.”

Internationally, many countries have moved forward from disposing of obsolete naval vessels as artificial reefs. In Canada in September 2010, the scuttling of the HMCS Fraser was cancelled for environmental reasons and the vessel is now being recycled.

The NSW State Government could bring Australia to the edge of cutting trends by recycling this ship. A quote was provided by the State Government during the hearing in July 2010 for recycling the HMAS Adelaide at Garden Island and the cost is $2.85 million. At the time the Government estimated that $771,000 could be recovered from sale of the steel and aluminium on the vessel.

The price of scrap steel and aluminium has now doubled since July due to high demand from China and India and it is projected to rise again by up to 40 percent due to effect on supplies of coking coal from the Queensland Floods making recycling the vessel an even more financially and environmentally responsible option.

Hazard Warning for HMAS Canberra from Parks Victoria http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=294

Contacts:  Michelle Meares 0439 645 372     Ben Smith   0409 693 205                 

‘In the end, we will protect only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.’ - Senegalese poet and naturalist Baba Dioum

AFTER the yellow buoy marking the spot of the planned ex-HMAS Adelaide scuttling went missing from Avoca Beach, it surprised beachgoers by drifting 10km north and reaching Toowoon Bay Beach near iconic Kims Beach Hideaway this morning.

Arrival of the yellow buoy surprised not only with its demonstration of wide-spread debris, but with the accusations which flew.

The No Ship Action Group (NSAG) was accused of ‘deshackling’ the buoy and setting it loose.

“We did not touch the buoy,” an NSAG spokesperson said. “We are disturbed at these accusations and are considering our legal options.”

"In fact, having the yellow buoy in our bay was to our benefit because it showed how close the proposed scuttling is to shore.”

"We hope the buoy is reinstalled quickly.”

The buoy, a large 2 m round yellow platform which was wide enough to stand on, was often used as a destination point by kayakers from Avoca Beach who would paddle around it.

The yellow buoy had been plastered with red and white “No Ship” stickers and “Still No Ship” stickers in recent months.

“This buoy has shot up from North Avoca, past Terrigal, Wamberal, Forresters Bateau Bay, then finally landed at Toowoon Bay,” a spokesperson from the No Ship Action Group said.

“Does this mean some of the 23,000 square metres of lead paint left on the ship could end up outside Kims too? Ironic given that Toowoon Bay was voted Australia’s cleanest beach in 2007.

"And all this risk for a dive site that is only viable for between 20 and 40 years.

"The Administrative Appeals Tribunal had the good sense to remove the 20,000 square metres of fibreglass, or yellow batts, and canvas, covering the ship.

"The ocean has just shown the Central Coast that if it is scuttled in the proposed location as the ex-warship breaks down over the next 250 years then the debris and pollutants will wash up across all our beautiful beaches of the Central Coast for generations to come.”

Media Contacts: Michelle Meares 0439 645 372 Ben Smith 0409 693 205