E-nough!: French "Farcical flagship": Forth and back

February 16, 2006

French "Farcical flagship": Forth and back

Meanwhile, the taxpayers pay for all this nonsense.

In what is being billed as a stunning victory for environmentalists, French President Jacques Chirac capitulated yesterday and ordered a contaminated warship destined for demolition in India to return home.
His embarrassing reversal came immediately after France's Council of State ruled that the transfer to an Indian ship-breaking yard of the decommissioned aircraft carrier Clemenceau be suspended.

(...)

The 50-year-old Clemenceau, once the pride of France's navy and now dubbed the Farcical Flagship, had been waiting in the northern Indian Ocean for several weeks while India's Supreme Court considered complaints that it contained toxic wastes that would pose serious threats to the health of workers as it was broken up.

(...)

In his retreat, Mr. Chirac, who is due to visit India this weekend, accepted that the ship ought to be brought back to France "until a definitive solution is found for its decontamination."

Replying to critics that France was dumping its environmental problems on the developing world, Mr. Chirac said that "France must set the example and act with the greatest transparency."

Of course, as always, the environmentalists care more about trees and birds than men and are always ready to mess up your business instead of minding their own:

The Clemenceau was destined for Alang, on the coast of Gujarat state in western India, Asia's biggest maritime graveyard. Occupational health-and-safety advocates have complained that workers wear little protective clothing and are exposed to many toxins and chemicals.
Greenpeace and its environmental allies said it was wrong for France to dump a warship full of asbestos, PCBs, lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals in a crude scrapyard where impoverished workers are routinely injured and die.

But Alang's ship-breaking companies said the recall of the Clemenceau would cost thousands of desperately needed jobs. "It's a big blow for the industry," Girish Luthra, chairman of Gujarat Enviro Protection, told Agence France-Presse.

(Emphasis mine)

Posted by Carine at February 16, 2006 10:46 AM

Comments

In this case, the environmentalists have a point and it redounds to the shame of France.

The French government opted for cheap Indian labor over pricey -- but worker safe -- French decontamination.* The shipbreaking yards of ALang use day-labor that does the abestos dismantling by hand with none of the bother to management of health and safety precautions and costly health coverage.

The Indian shipbreaking companies aren't weeping about lost jobs, they're weeping about lost profits. Lethal profits as it turns out.

The original French contractor, Technopure, acted admirably. When it was apparent that the government was intent on dismantling the Clemenceau's abestos on the cheap with expendible Indian labor, Technopure canceled its contract. These were real jobs lost because, unlike the hapless Alang workers, the French workers would continue their employment after the decontamination and not simply sicken and die.