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PENSACOLA - The USS Oriskany's wooden flight deck is being removed because of PCB contamination, but other issues involving the toxic material must yet be resolved before the retired aircraft carrier can be sunk as an artificial reef, a Navy spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The Navy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state officials met last week in Atlanta to begin that process.
The 888-foot ship would be the largest vessel ever purposely sunk as a reef.
Questions raised by EPA officials have indefinitely delayed plans to sink the carrier in the Gulf of Mexico about 25 miles off Pensacola Pass, said Pat Dolan of the Naval Sea Systems Command.
The Oriskany, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, had been scheduled to arrive in Pensacola by Aug. 10 to begin final preparations for sinking, but it remains in Corpus Christi, Texas, where potential environmental hazards are being removed.