The toxic ship causing a dreadful stink

What an utter fiasco, as I reported in a previous post the French aircraft-carrier Clemenceau was decommissioned in 2002, but it was so full of asbestos and other toxic waste that it couldn’t be safely dismantled. So the French defence ministry had the hulk towed to an Indian yard, where nobody cares for workers’ safety. What no one anticipated, though they certainly should have, is that Greenpeace activists would kick up a terrific stink, forcing an Indian court to rule that the ship must cease docking until a risk assessment had been undertaken. Worse yet, the State Council, the highest court in France, then said it would hear a suit brought against the government by environmentalists. At this point President Chirac said enough was enough and ordered the hulk to be towed back to Toulon. This was a huge embarrassment for a leader who makes such a big deal about ecological issues, especially since he was about to go to India on a state visit. But the real culprit here is Defence Minister Michele Alhot-Mane and her officials – they stumbled from one blunder to the next, hiring cowboy contractors, ignoring European safety rules, and urging other governments to flout international laws on the movement of toxic waste – then covered up their incompetence with lies. The whole affair is pathetic and shameful, and a disaster for France’s image.