PROTESTORS have criticised a "woefully inadequate" environmental assessment report on nine rusting US navy ships which could be scrapped in the North-East.

The nine ships, part of a 13- strong fleet which Hartlepool based Able UK wants to dispose of, were prevented from leaving their home on the James River, Virginia, after US green groups won a temporary court injunction halting their departure.

The legal action forced the US Government to prepare an environmental assessment to determine the risk to the environment should the fleet - containing PCBs, asbestos and fuel - be towed across the Atlantic.

Jim Puckett, of the Basel Action Network, said a draft copy of the assessment produced by the US Maritime Administration and the US Department of Transportation failed to establish the significant risks posed to the environment and human health.

He said: "This assessment is woefully inadequate. It should have provided an actual study of the nine remaining vessels instead of making a blanket assurance that things are safe and operational, without the corresponding proof of such assertions."

Mr Puckett said the assessment also failed to assess the potential impacts of a possible leak or spill and did not provide an inventory of all the hazardous wastes contained within the hulls of the ships.

He said the US Government should justify why a number of US firms were denied the £11m contract to scrap the so-called ghost fleet.

Phil Michaels, a lawyer with Friends of the Earth, said the draft assessment, which is now subject to consultation, had ignored the impact that scrapping the ships would have on the North-East environment.

The final version of the environmental assessment is expected to influence the decision of a US court in determining the future of the nine ships. The other four ships are already moored at Able UK's shipyard, in Graythorp.

Their future remains in limbo after a High Court judge said a decision to grant a waste management licence was legally flawed.

Able has to re-apply for the necessary permits and has still to apply for planning permission to create a dry dock.

For more information, log on to www.ghostships.co.uk