Predictably last week, when the 32,000 ton French aircraft carrier Clemenceau was towed into a breakers' yard on Tees-side to be dismantled, headlines reported that this was arousing angry protests from â environmentalists'. A BBC news item led on an interview with one such â environmentalist' complaining that Able UK, the firm responsible for the largest ship-breaking contract in Europe, had â no experience', didn't have a dry dock and was preparing to strip down this huge ship, carrying hundreds of tons of deadly asbestos, in the middle of an internationally-recognised nature reserve, Had the BBC done a little more homework it might have hesitated before leading its report on such a travesty of the facts. Far from being inexperienced, Able has since 1986 built up its reputation as the most expert dismantler of ships, oil rigs and power stations in the world. Far from not having a dry dock, it has the largest there is. And exhaustive studies have shown that, like the Hartlepool power station next door, it co-habits perfectly happily with the waders in the Ramsar-accredited nature reserve across the water.