WHAT A DIFFERENCE a new administration makes. After ignoring years of pleas for action to remove the Mothball Fleet anchored in Suisun Bay east of the Benicia Bridge, the federal government is finally moving ahead with plans to begin disposing of the rotting ships.

The Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration last week announced that the first two vessels will be moved before the end of the year to dry dock in San Francisco to be cleaned of pollutants. The ships will then be towed to Brownsville, Texas, where they will be cut up and sold for scrap.

We're told this is just the start, that will we see ongoing movement to rid the bay of many more of the 57 decaying ships that have been floating there for decades.

To fix a problem, one must acknowledge that it exists. Under President Bush, the Maritime Administration had dragged its feet, downplayed the risk and made no progress toward removal of the ships. It was as if they never believed there was a legitimate hazard.

This despite of the Maritime Administration's own study that found more than 21 tons of paint containing concentrations of metals that qualified as hazardous waste under California law had fallen from 40 of the ships. The toxins included, for example, copper, lead, zinc and barium. The report, first revealed by Bay Area News Group investigative reporter Thomas Peele in June 2007, estimated another 65 tons of paint

While the Maritime Administration had said it wanted to tow the vessels to Texas for disposal, the Coast Guard had blocked that move until the ship hulls were cleaned of marine growth, such as seaweed and barnacles, that could be spread to areas where it was not native. Experimental attempts to clean the hulls while the ships were in the water had led to peeling of more decayed metals into the environment.

To us, the answer was obvious: Put the ships into dry dock, clean them up and then ship them out. But instead of acting, the Bush administration sat on its hands and tried to ignore the problem, leaving our precious ecosystem to deteriorate.

Then a new president took the helm. "The Obama administration is committed to good environmental stewardship, and these deteriorating vessels pose a risk to the marine ecosystem in Suisun Bay," Transportation Deputy Secretary John Porcari said last week as he announced the start of the clean up effort.

"We can maintain our national defense sealift assets at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet with a much smaller footprint on the surrounding environment. The DOT has prioritized obsolete ships in the worst condition for proper cleaning and will work as quickly as possible to bring the fleet in line with our national goals for a safe and clean environment."

It's a very good start.