Company’s Loan Default Costs Taxpayers

WASHINGTON — A New Jersey firm that built two ships to incinerate hazardous wastes at sea has defaulted on its loans guaranteed by the U.S. Maritime Administration, costing taxpayers $63.8 million, the agency said Wednesday.

The financial collapse of At-Sea Incineration Inc. has put the federal agency under fire because of its decision to grant the loan guarantees without assurance the Environmental Protection Agency would approve the technology for ocean disposal of toxic chemicals.

Allan Mendelsohn, a Washington maritime attorney, said the 1982 approval of the loans to At-Sea reflected a “short-sighted policy.”

At-Sea’s failure also marked another in a series of setbacks for the Maritime Administration, which has lost $650 million in the last three years because of shipbuilder bankruptcies.