Law Gives Navy OK To Dump Tons Of Trash In Seas

On April 15, federal prosecutors announced that Princess Cruise Lines had pleaded guilty to illegal ocean dumping and would be fined $500,000.

The crime?

Late at night, during a 1991 cruise, crew members tossed 20 bags of plastic trash into waters off the Florida coast. A passenger recorded the incident on videotape.

But even as environmentalists and congressional leaders praised the tough prosecution, sailors on U.S. Navy ships were throwing hundreds of bags containing the same kind of garbage into oceans all over the world and sailing away scot-free.

Protected by exemptions in federal laws, the Navy estimates its 452 ships will dump about 1.2 million pounds of plastic overboard this year - trash that private vessels must keep on board.

In recent weeks, the practice has come under criticism. The controversy spotlights a Navy struggling to leave centuries of maritime habits in its wake and come up to speed with modern environmental standards.

"The Navy is being a good steward of the environment," said spokeswoman Lt. Jackie Yost. "We're trying to lead the way."

Progress has been made, especially during the past five years. The Navy set tough new rules on ocean dumping and spent $20 million inventing new trash-disposal gadgetry.

But overall, some critics say, the Navy could be doing a better job.

Consider:

-- Although tough regulations created since 1988 govern disposal of garbage such as toxic chemicals, medical waste and unwanted equipment, no outside agency monitors Navy dumping. Critics suggest some captains at sea may not be making much effort to follow the rules.

-- Congress granted the Navy and other government ships a five-year exemption from the 1988 law that ensnared Princess Cruise Lines, the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act. Plastic is regulated because it kills thousands of marine mammals, birds and turtles annually, plus it litters beaches, harms tourism and wrecks boat propellers. When the grace period expires Dec. 31, Navy commanders plan to ask for another extension to keep dumping plastics until 1998.

Lawmakers who will decide on that request won't have much of a choice. Even if they deny the exemption, the Navy says it will have to keep dumping plastic until compactors are ready - and that's not expected before 1995.

-- The Navy does not keep centralized records of pollution violations. This makes it nearly impossible for the public to find out how many sailors have been disciplined for improper dumping.

-- Dumping records are not tightly kept. Officers are required to log the amount, time and place of plastics thrown overboard from Navy ships. Other types of trash go unrecorded. But the Navy does not regularly review the logs.

"The face the Navy shows is competent, smiling, effective," said wildlife biologist Jim Coe, a marine debris expert with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle. "But you can't see what they're really doing on the ships. It's like the fox guarding the henhouse."

Sailor Aaron Ahearn, 20, of Santa Cruz, Calif., and several former Navy crew members have focused attention on Navy pollution in recent months with allegations of rampant - and sometimes illegal - dumping from warships.

Ahearn left the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln without permission in February, claiming he could not in good conscience continue to dump up to 200 bags of plastic garbage a day into the ocean. He also said he saw sailors illegally discharge raw sewage into harbors and throw paint overboard, which the Navy denies. He awaits court-martial and faces up to six months in jail.

Navy commanders do not dispute the plastics allegations. Nor do they deny that sailors sometimes dump broken furniture, another of Ahearn's claims. Commanders say they have no choice because of limited space and tours at sea that can last months.

Modern warships are literally cities afloat. The USS Abraham Lincoln has a crew of 5,550. Seven galleys serve about 20,000 meals a day, producing as much garbage as a strip of burger franchises.

The Lincoln's raw-sewage tanks, which hold 96,000 gallons of human waste, must be pumped into the ocean daily. By international law, they cannot be emptied within 3 miles of shore.

The rules haven't ended negligent dumping, however.

Since the Navy drew up new rules in the late '80s, medical waste with Navy markings has washed up on beaches in San Diego, North Carolina and Florida.

In 1991, a TV crew aboard the USS Raleigh filmed sailors dumping plastic trash close to the North Carolina shore - a violation of the Navy's 50-mile limit.

After Ahearn made his charges, another sailor came forward. Former Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Girard, 22, of Chicago, served aboard the Lincoln from 1988 to 1992.

Plastic separation rules were rarely enforced, he said. Broken furniture, paint and other debris were thrown overboard by sailors interested only in avoiding demerits during weekly inspections, said Girard, who never saw anyone disciplined.

Lazy crewmen who didn't feel like taking solvents, caustics and paint to hazardous-waste lockers would just toss the toxics overboard, he said.

A spokesman for the Lincoln, Lt. Kent Davis, has said the ship passed all inspections and complies with Navy regulations.

Of the 5,550 sailors on the Lincoln, only one has been disciplined this year for breaking pollution rules. In January, a crew member was fined $100 for wasting equipment after he dumped an empty 55-gallon drum.

The Center for Marine Conservation, based in Washington, D.C., proposes that a toll-free number be established for Navy sailors to report violations without fear of punishment.

"If the Navy doesn't go for it," claimed Kathy O'Hara, director of pollution prevention for the center, "they're saying, `We have too much to hide.' "

------------- WHY COMPLY? -------------

Some experts say the Navy sets a bad example for other boaters.

Fran Recht, of the Portland-based Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, lectures fishing captains not to dump plastic at sea.

"I've been in meetings where fishermen say, `We'll do our part, but what's the use?' " she said. "When they're out 200 miles, they come across miles of this junk from Navy boats."