Army secret surfaces: Deadly chemicals at sea

[highplainsdem]

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5dumpoct30,0,986529.story?coll=all-news-hed&track=mostemailedlink


Army secret surfaces: Deadly chemicals at sea
Millions of pounds of unused weapons of mass destruction were dumped in oceans before Congress banned the practice in 1972. The threat is still out there, and may be growing.

By John Bull
Special to The Morning Call

First of a two-day series

<snip>

Boaters, divers, fishermen and commercial seafood trawlers have no way to steer clear of the dump sites.

That's because the Army has put only one of its 26 known chemical weapons dumps on nautical charts, according to records kept by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

The federal agency in charge of undersea cable-laying operations, as well as gas and oil ventures, has only a vague idea of where chemical weapons were thrown into the ocean, said spokesman Gary Strasburg.

That agency, Minerals Management Service, knows only what the Army has revealed to the agency: that chemical weapons were dumped at sea and that some are somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico and at a location somewhere off the coast of South Carolina, agency records show.

<snip>

That's from page 5 of an alarming 6-page article. I'll add the link to part two of the series tomorrow.

************

Editing to add a link to the Daily Press article which the article above is a copy of (also a 10/30 article):

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-02761sy0oct30,0,2199000.story?coll=dp-widget-news


Different headline for the original:

SPECIAL REPORT: The Deadliness Below
Weapons of mass destruction thrown into the sea years ago present danger now - and the Army doesn't know where they all are.

BY JOHN M.R. BULL

October 30, 2005

The byline there links to the reporter's e-mail, in case anyone wants to write to him.

[acmavm]

1. And they wonder why the rest of the world hates us. Not only for the

current corrupt regime in Washington, but for the massive damage and destruction we've inflicted on this planet all just because we could.

[DFWdem]

7. I'm sure the US is the only country to have done this

Please. I'm not saying the US didn't do it, but if you think we're the only ones who did you're living in a dream world.

[acmavm]

8. The US is the world's leader. And I suspect the Soviets come right

after us.

Don't ever think I'm stupid enough to think we're the 'only ones' who do anything. But since I've been paying attention (and that time span that I've been doing so can be measured in multiple decades) I do know that between our dangerous chemicals and obsolete nuclear subs and radioactive waste we've caused untold an irreversible damage to this planet. Just because we could. No one could ever argue that it was insane and would eventually catch up with us. The US government never cared. They were in it for the fast solution. Screw the future. Exactly like the policies on global warming, mad cow, frankenfood, and so many other environmental crimes that are being committed as we speak.

[DFWdem]

9. Not to mention..

All of the nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific during the 1950's & 1960's by the various countries of the world. Who knows how much damage all that radioactive fallout caused as it was whisked around the globe by the wind? Mankind desperately needs to re-evaluate its priorities.

[acmavm]

10. What priorities? There's only one. To be the biggest badass on the

planet. They guy with the biggest bombs and most killing machines.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. When I think of "testing nocluelear" weapons.... I get the impression

that these frigging morons don't know what they do when you press "go". Asshats.

[MADem]

23. The Russkies tended to bury their crap

They have fewer outlets to the sea.

[knitter4democracy]

25. No, they didn't.

They dumped nuclear reactors, spent rods, and all sorts of crap in the North Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and off of Kamchatka. We studied it in class when I studied there in college for a semester. Frightening stuff. The Soviets showed the most amazing lack of environmental vision of anyone I've ever seen. We're bad, but they were criminal. It sure scared the heck out of all of us, that's for sure.

[MADem]

26. Oh yeah they did

I am not averring that they did not also use the sea, especially for things like the sub reactors and seaborne weaponry that had outlived its usefulness, but they also dug up the whole damn country and buried shit everywhere:



http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/waste-mngment/30049.html

[knitter4democracy]

28. I was trying to say that they didn't always bury it.

I'm sorry that wasn't clear. Yes, they buried a lot of scary stuff, but they also dumped a lot of scary stuff. Heck, they just did a lot of scary stuff in general.

[MADem]

33. You got that right!!!

We're good!

:toast:

[sweetheart]

39. Yes, the german WW1 stocks were dumped in the baltic

The chemical time bomb burns off sweden's coast, and were i more adept
at nordic languages..

.
<snip>
.
Ole-Kristian Bjerkemo of the Norwegian coastguard said he hoped a new seismic survey would be carried out this year to locate ships loaded with Nazi stocks of mustard gas and the nerve agent tabun which were scuttled off Norway in 1945.

Norway knows the exact locations of just 15 of a probable 36 ships in waters about 600 metres deep off the southern town of Arendal, one of the main postwar chemical dumps with 168,000 tonnes of Nazi ammunition.
.
<snip>
.


http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/24/1074732654196.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true

[truthisfreedom]

2. smart move, huh? your taxpayer dollars at work, destroying our future.

we need a massive expansion of the GAO. now. this is critical.

[acmejack]

3. 32,000 one ton containers of poison gas?

Yikes!

[highplainsdem]

4. "Yikes" is right. I hope this article shows up in a lot of papers,

not just the two I've found it in so far.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. That may explain some of the dead zones that are being spotted.

[crikkett]

12. Aha, you beat me to it!

My question is, which is the better situation: dead zones being caused by runoff from industrial agriculture (official explanation) or dumping deadly weapons?

-crikkett

[tatertop]

21. That never crossed my mind

I wonder how much damage a ton of this unleashes
as it disperses.

[zann725]

6. Why do I think this "dumping" occurred NOT before 1972, but recently

...during this Admin's total disregard for the environment,eco-balance, and downright human safety.

Sadam used chemical warfare on his people. That IS what this would be...assuming people continue to eat seafood who are poisoned by the toxic dumps. And the difference between the two leaders IS????

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. Better to dump depleted uranium on Iraq than to go after

real threats... oh wait... the toxic dump sites don't have any oil... nevermind.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/

[donsu]

14. tick, tick, tick - ocean water travels

nt

[SlavesandBulldozers]

15. idiots.

fucking idiots. goddamn them.

:mad:

[Wilms]

16. .

:scared:

[Gyre]

17. The US Army is collectively so effing stupid

that it's a crime that any of them are even given keys to a humvee.

I work with some of their officers and they're a joke on two legs. Only the jokes on the American taxpayer, and the environment our children grow up in.

Gyre

[goforit]

32. Yah.....they have got to be the dumbest asses ever known

[WhiteTara]

18. kicking in horror

:kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick:

[BeHereNow]

36. I don't think "horror" is an accurate response

How about mind numbing fear and
paralysis?
The implications are beyond my comprehension.
BHN

[WhiteTara]

42. mine too

I just read that all the forest on the west coast are being completely devoured by beetles because global warming isn't killing the bugs in winter as it used too. no oxygen from the forests, no oxygen from the oceans. Higher levels of carbon dioxide, the krill all killed in the sea from the chemicals. I don't know if the planet has even 50 years left and all these *s can do is try and make sure a woman can't control her own body.

[Overseas]

19. So sad that when massive clean up is required we have such an anti-science

administration.

[kineneb]

20. let us consider what was dumped off the Faralon Islands(SF)

off of the Golden Gate Bridge. Rumor hath it that barrels of unknown chemicals, etc. were dumped there. When they sometimes would begin floating around the Navy would use them for target practice. Hmmmmm.

[phusion]

22. kicking

Where's the fucking accountability?

I'm so sick of the military and other government agencies trashing this planet and endangering its inhabitants.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[Lochloosa]

24. I DEMAND a UN Resolution and if the Ocean does not comply....

INVADE....

[fshrink]

27. I call that a crime against humanity,

which should be pursued in La Hague. Which will probably never happen, just because everybody does the same.

[undergroundpanther]

29. I remember my mom

telling a story about the aberdeen proving ground testing munitions with uranium before they knew it was so toxic,and the fallout was in the offices so they vacuumed it up,and they were told it was dangerous so what did they do? They threw the vacuums into the Chesapeake bay.

The Military is exempt from EPA laws now. The corporate military is evil incarnate. Problem is people think they need a standing army but forget a standing army is what a corrupt government uses to dominate the citizens. WE were warned against this from our founding fathers who were fighting a state dictatorship,the king. I think they KNEW the dangers of standing armies owned by the government which is when it is not watched closely and checked by the people becomes a handful of rich pricks who want power for themselves.

[BeHereNow]

35. NOT just humanity- the entire WORLD

The future is OVER.
No wonder the elite are grabbing
everything they can.
They know the time to enjoy it is very short indeed.
I feel sick.
And, GOD DAMN these people.
BHN

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

30. if the Ocean dies->Food Chain gets Broken-->Planet Dies->We Die

In 8th Grade Science Class
who wasn't paying attention?

How on earth did we get leaders who don't even have an 8th grader's grasp of Science?

Outlook for the future ?-->if things continue at this rate the odds are against our survival

Chemical waste dumping?--if we only knew about what isn't being reported!!!

[BeHereNow]

34. Time to review the Kogi Indian's message-

AND the Hopi Prophecies
ANDthe Mayan Calendar
AND the Book of Revelation
AND countless other books of Truth.

What a STUPID, STUPID, STUPID
fucking thing to do.
This makes my head explode.
There is no future in our lifetimes
thanks to these IDIOTIC fucking
masters of war.

BHN

[RedRocco]

31. My Dad

told me about dumping nuclear waste in the Marianas trench in '67 or '68

[ngGale]

37. FGS - We are SO screwed...n/t

[sandnsea]

38. We should have known

I remember the outrage when they were dumping batteries and items like that. We should have wondered where the hell all of those weapons went, and figured it out. And think of the waste. We spend billions of dollars to make these weapons, then spend millions or billions to destroy or dump it, then turn around and spend billions more on weapons that we're just going to dump at some point in the future. Total insanity.

This has got to be one of the more stomach churning articles I've ever read in my life.

[highplainsdem]

40. HERE'S THE LINK TO PART 2 OF THIS REPORT:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-02774sy0oct31,0,4689373.story?coll=dp-widget-news


That's the link for the Daily Press, where this report was originally published.

The link for Part 2 at the Morning Call, whose headline I used because I found their copy of the report first, is

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5dumpday2oct31,0,3757483.story?coll=all-news-hed

[phusion]

41. Thanks much!

I was waiting for pt. 2.

:toast: