The export of these ships is widely seen as a test-run for a larger project to export many more deteriorating US vessels to developing countries to be scrapped. Developing countries have very poor laws protecting workers and the environment from these contaminated ships.

 Representing the Basel Action Network and the Sierra Club, Earthjustice sued the US government in September 2003 to stop the ships from sailing to the UK.  The judge decided that nine of the ships could not leave port until the government did a full environmental review of the risks of transporting them across the ocean.  Some of these ships are in such bad condition, their hulls can be cracked with hammers.  The remaining four ships were permitted to leave port in October. 

 The British public protested the arrival of the ghost ships, and the British government initially declared the permits to import and dismantle the ships invalid.  However, to prevent the four ships from making another potentially dangerous trip back to the US, the UK has indicated that it will dismantle the four ships there. 

 Earthjustice and its clients are now locked in a legal battle with the Bush administration over the fate of the remaining nine, deteriorating ships.  Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the US cannot export highly toxic PCBs to other countries without a special exemption that can only be granted after a public hearing. The environmental groups will argue that the Bush administration ignored the law when it decided to send the ships to the UK. The case will be heard in August 2004.