Army admits: 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents dumped into the sea

[firefox_fan]

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/06/munitions_dumping_at_sea.php

It is no secret that the U.S. military has used the ocean as trashcan for munitions in the past. Peter discussed at the Old DSN how federal lawmakers were pressing the US Army to reveal everything it knows about a massive international program to dump chemical weapons off homeland and foreign shores. "The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.

Main link with excruciating details:

SPECIAL REPORT: THE DEADLINESS BELOW
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-chemdumping-stories,1,534800.storygallery?ctrack=1&cset=true

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. What happens to these compound in sea water?

[firefox_fan]

3. THIS happens, just to start with...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Link?

[firefox_fan]

5. It's on the page already posted

Hard to miss...

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/06/munitions_dumping_at_sea.php

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. It's got one anonymous guy saying it looks like mustard gas.

Anything more credible?

[firefox_fan]

7. The Daily Press has a great special report on this (linked above)

But it takes some time to actually read it and put the pieces together. Damn.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Requires membership.

That particular dolphin mass death was blamed on every pet environmental pollutant people happened to be campaigning against at the time.

The scientists at NOAA, forever, think it was red tide.

[firefox_fan]

9. Yeah, clicking is HARD work... Whatever...

"Registration is FREE."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Is cutting and pasting too hard?

[Duppers]

44. p. 1

What's Off Virginia? 'There's No Guarantee'

Large quantities of chemical weapons were dumped off the state's coast. Watermen and environmentalists are fearful and demand answers.

BY JOHN M.R. BULL

October 30, 2005

Lurking off Virginia are tens of thousands of mustard gas shells and hundreds of tons of radioactive waste in at least five ocean dump zones created by the Army decades ago.

Newly released Army records show that four dumpsites containing a hodgepodge of deadly ordnance are in deep water off Chincoteague, near the Maryland state line on the Eastern Shore.

A fifth is in very deep water off Virginia Beach.

A sixth might - or might not - exist. A former ammunition inspector at Nansemond Ordnance Depot in Suffolk told Army investigators in 1970 that "some" chemical weapons had been dumped in the Atlantic off Norfolk after an "incident at port" during World War II.

The Army says no records exist to verify whether that was, indeed, done; where they were dumped; or whether the weapons are in dangerously shallow water.

Years of records about dumping after World War II are missing. The Army has never reviewed records of World War I-era dumping, when chemical weapons were routinely tossed into relatively shallow water.

As a result, more dumpsites likely exist off the country's shoreline, the Army says.

Could they be waiting to be found in shallow water off Virginia?

"There's no guarantee in the world, but I can tell you there was little history of chemical weapons in the area during World War I," William Brankowitz said. He's a deputy program manager of the Army's current chemical weapon stockpile and a leading authority on ocean dumping of chemical weapons.

"Virginia didn't figure prominently in that time period," when chemical weapons were tested and stored at dozens of bases nationwide, he said. This reduces the likelihood that chemical weapons were dumped off Virginia in undocumented shallow-water dump zones, he said.

The contents of known Virginia dumpsites appear to be in little danger of washing up on shore, judging by three Army reports obtained by the Daily Press.

But watermen and environmentalists were shocked to learn they exist and fear they could leak, endanger people and decimate economically critical fisheries.

"I'm not surprised we dumped toxic waste off our coast, but I am surprised about how much of it is out there and that it is what it is - mustard gas and maybe highly radioactive waste," said Michael Town, director of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club.

"The question is: What are we going to do about it? Has there already been an impact on our marine environment? We think the Army or the government should go look. We need to know what the impact of it is."

Watermen also want answers. "It is surprising they would do it, but nothing the government does shocks me anymore," said Ernie L. Bowden, president of the Eastern Shore Working Watermen's Association.

He wondered whether the fragile fisheries that he relied on as a self-employed fisherman would be destroyed if the weapons leaked.

And are the 59 scalloping operations in Chincoteague, which dredge the ocean floor in the region, in danger of scooping up chemical weapons?

The seabed off Virginia's Eastern Shore is one of the country's best scalloping areas.

Dredgers often pull up strange metal objects. "On scallopers, guys are kicking stuff overboard with their feet," said James Kirkley, a William and Mary economics professor who has long studied the East Coast's scallop industry.

====================



You'll still have to click :eyes: to get the rest of the article since rules prevent us from posting the whole thing.


Registration takes only a min.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

47. That's not answering my question.

What happens to these compounds when they come into contact with sea water, and what environmenetal impact are they actually having?

[sce56]

76. How about the railroad tracks that go into the bay at Edgwood Arsenal?

I saw the tracks myself they did not go to an underwater terminal. Edgewood is one of the research centers for chemical defense! Think stainless steel RR tankers of crap deep sixed in the Chesapeake bay

[Occulus]

13. *snicker* It's always nice to see my reasons for putting people on ignore are still sound n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

Heh.

Looks like the joke's on you.

[WiseButAngrySara]

21. Oh I agree with you. What obnoxiousness! Is this person (?)

always so rude/lazy/neurotic/ill-tempered?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. Pardon?

I asked a simple question with out being rude, lazy, or ill-tempered.

:shrug:

[JohnLocke]

46. Try this

http://www.bugmenot.com/

[Duppers]

42. thanks for posting this

I've been following the Daily Press' expose` on pollution for the last couple of weeks.

I'm so glad the military, and those blindly supporting anything the military does here in this area, are getting their eyes and ears full of info. They frikin' wrecking our environment.

:thumbsup: for you, firefox.

[davepc]

64. Depends on the compound.

Here's a portion of a report from the Congressional Research Service entitled U.S. Disposal of Chemical Weapons in the Ocean:
Background and Issues for Congress (updated Jan 2007)

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33432.pdf (PDF)

Exposure to chemical weapons can have numerous harmful effects on human
beings. Depending on the particular chemical agent, these effects can include burns
and sores on the skin, vomiting, respiratory dysfunction, mental impairment, damage
to the immune and nervous systems, infertility, and death. Public health advocates
have questioned whether possible exposure to such substances in seawater from
leaking weapons may contribute to various symptoms experienced by coastal
residents, swimmers, divers, fishermen, and individuals who may have consumed
contaminated fish or shellfish. Marine conservationists and environmental advocates
also have raised questions about the possible effects of chemical weapons agents on
the marine environment, including the possible contribution to declines in
populations of certain fish and other marine life in and around areas where weapons
were dumped in the ocean.

The degree of risk from weapons leaking chemical agents into seawater depends
on numerous factors. The extent to which an agent is diluted and the duration of
exposure determine whether there is potential for harm. For example, most nerve
agents are soluble and dissolve in water within several days. Less soluble agents still
degrade over time as a result of hydrolysis. However, certain agents are less
susceptible to hydrolysis, allowing them to remain in harmful forms for longer
periods. For example, sulphur mustard in liquid or solid form turns into an encrusted
gel when released in seawater. In this form, it can persist for many years before
degrading.

This Department of the Army report: Military Sea Disposal Operations Near Hawaii from Jan 2006 describes the various agents known to have been dumped near Hawaii and describes how they react in the water.

http://www.kahea.org/lcr/pdf/Army_munitions_report_2006.pdf

Mustard Gas:

In summary, the life of Mustard and its degradation products in seawater is determined by the rate of
dissolution, which is a function of temperature, degree of agitation, and velocity of currents. Once
Mustard is dissolved, the hydrolysis proceeds rapidly to innocuous products. The concentration of
hazardous materials in any given area will likely be very small because of diffusion, currents, and the
rapid rate of hydrolysis.

Lewisite:

In summary, Lewisite released into the marine environment will quickly loose its blister agent
(vesicant) properties through hydrolysis (exposure to seawater), resulting in a net increase in arsenic
concentrations either in sediments (in the case of insoluble end products) or in solution.

Hydrogen Cyanide:

Cyanogen chloride is a blood agent. Blood agents effect body functions by
preventing the normal utilization of oxygen by the cells. Hydrogen Cyanide is a
colorless liquid and was first used in 1916 during World War I. Salts of
hydrogen cyanide are soluble in water. Hydrolysis is rapid in the presence of a base or basic salts.
Toxic hydrogen cyanide is converted relatively easily into non-toxic formic acid and its sodium salt.

Cyanogen Chloride:

Cyanogen chloride is quite soluble in water. The products of hydrolysis are hydrochloric acid and
cyanic acid. These products are further converted to carbon dioxide and ammonium chloride.
Because of its extreme volatility and relatively rapid rate of hydrolysis in water, CK is not expected
to persist in seawater. Hydrolysis half-lives range from 1 min at 45°C to 10 hr at 5°C.

Various bits on wiki have more info.

According to this wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_gas

Most of the mustard gas found in Germany after World War II was dumped into the Baltic Sea. Between 1966 and 2002, fishermen have found around 700 chemical weapons outside Bornholm, most of which were mustard gas bombs. When mustard gas is exposed to seawater, it forms a tar-like gel and maintains its lethality for at least five years. It is possible to mistake a piece of polymerised mustard gas for ambergris, which can lead to severe health problems. Shells containing mustard gas and other toxic ammunition from World War I (as well as conventional explosives) can still occasionally be found in France and Belgium; they used to be disposed of by explosion at sea, but current environmental regulations prohibit this and so the French government is building an automated factory to dispose of the backlog of shells.

In 1972, the United States Congress banned the practice of disposing chemical weapons into the ocean. However, 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents had already been dumped into the ocean waters off of the United States by the U.S. Army. According to a 1998 report created by William Brankowitz, a deputy project manager in the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, the Army created at least 26 chemical weapons dump sites in the ocean off of at least 11 states on both the west and east coasts. Additionally because of poor records, they currently only know the rough whereabouts of half of them.

and this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare

After the war, most of the unused German chemical weapon agents were dropped into the Baltic Sea, a common disposal method among all the participants in several bodies of water. Over time, the salt water causes the shell casings to corrode, and mustard gas occasionally leaks from these containers and washes onto shore as a wax-like solid resembling ambergris. Even in this solidified form, the agent is active enough to cause severe contact burns to anybody coming into contact with it.

and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_agent#Ocean_disposal_of_chemical_weapons

Ocean disposal of chemical weapons

In 1972, The United States Congress banned the practice of disposing chemical weapons into the ocean. However 32,000 tons of nerve and mustard agents had already been dumped into the ocean waters off of the United States by the U.S. Army. According to a 1998 report created by William Brankowitz, a deputy project manager in the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, the Army created at least 26 chemical weapons dumpsites in the ocean off of at least 11 states on both the west and east coasts. Additionally due to poor records, currently they only know the rough whereabouts of half of them.

It is unknown how these dumps of chemical weapons have affected the ocean ecology—it may be responsible for some of the decline in fish populations over the past decades, but no evidence has yet proved a causal relationship between dumping and fish population decline. The steel containers they are contained within face a variable rate of decay and no one is really certain where or how deep they were dumped. If a nerve agent leaks into the ocean, it can last up to six weeks, during which time it will kill every susceptible organism it touches before it breaks down into its nonlethal chemical components.

It's wiki, so who knows if this information is accurate, but its the best I could find in a cursory check.

edit: put the CSR report 1st.
edit 2: added Army Hawaii report info

[ben_meyers]

65. Or this

[Lorien]

2. Considering that the ocean flora is responsible for 65% of our oxygen

stories like this and :http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x98732 are bone chilling. No wonder "dead zones" are spreading throughout the seas and fish stocks are plummeting!

[Decruiter]

11. when oh when are we ever going to rise up and make the rape of

this planet stop? Are we just leaving it to our kids?

How can we?

[WiseButAngrySara]

25. I don't know. When will war end? I am really beginning to

believe that if there is not a radical change in consciousness (both spiritually, as proposed by the likes of Eckhard Tolle, and scientifically, as proposed by Gore and others) we will kill off not only the human species, but perhaps the earth as well.

[AZBlue]

49. No, this isn't their fault - this is our fault. We are responsible, we need to stop it NOW.

[Occulus]

12. And those currents flow in WHICH directions?

Oh, right:



:grr:

[Horse with no Name]

14. And just wait until the next hurricane

When those toxins will be washed inland.

[porphyrian]

15. Why does the military hate America?

And if they're willing to admit this now, how much more have they done that they haven't admitted?

[Gregorian]

26. I have always boycotted everything military.

It was never a surprise to me what they do. And I am not afraid. Let the world invade us. But the hell with military. Knowing a lot of people on this forum are military people, I fully expect nasty replies to my comments. But until we truly become brave (or stupid, as some translate that), we will continue to live at the mercy of the military. I ran an electronics company many years ago. When we got military contract requests, they went directly into the garbage can. And we still had a great company which we eventually sold for great profit.

There is only one thing that militaries do. They kill. I never have bought the "protect us" concept. I've never bought the deterrent concept. You can call me stupid, but what is more idiotic than producing poisons and bombs? Please, tell me. I'd rather sacrifice my life than destroy the planet for future generations. That is not stupid. That is noble and brave.

Stop the killing machine.

[ellisonz]

56. ...

:applause:

[irislake]

57. Oh but remember

You need your wonderful military to protect your freedom to do stuff like this. No wonder the world admires you so much.

[getmeouttahere]

61. Ouch!

Good one, Irislake. It's reflected in the amount spent on defense. Actually, they shouldn't be allowed to call it the Department of Defense, since it seems a lot more offensive nowadays.

[getmeouttahere]

59. Great post, Gregorian!

kinda echoes how I feel about guns/gun violence. Once saw an episode of a British police comedy called "The Thin Blue Line" where one of the detectives tells Rowan Atkinson's character that because he is holding up the process of receiving a gun permit for a friend, he is denying him his rights. And Atkinson's character's response is "What of the rights of those who do not wish to live next to an armed man??? Until we think of ourselves as one large community, we will pay the price for our glorification of guns and violence.

[mikeyj84]

60. Military

I'll sum it up in one word, the Guilty One of all times, MONEY, MONEY, AND MORE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Swede]

16. Maybe we'll go out with a whimper,not a bang.

[tanyev]

17. Of course. There's absolutely nothing of value in the ocean

that could be harmed by dumping millions of pounds of toxic waste in it.



:sarcasm:

[NaturalHigh]

18. Shameful and disgusting.

[stellanoir]

19. thanks pal

You've made my day by enlightening me to that fact that there was a NG dump over my town.

No wonder I feel woozey. Now I have an excuse.

Oh joy.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

20. This type of shit -- crapping in your own pool -- is beyond disgusting.

Do ya think it might affect the populations in the oceans? i.e., fish? G'Dammit! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Hubert Flottz]

22. Tip of the iceberg...the land has been under attack too.

Can't find any WMD george?...well look over here...

http://www.project-112shad-fdn.com/index.htm#books

[annabanana]

23. Boy Howdy, THAT makes you want to hit the road to the Jersey Shore

(makes my skin crawl)

[undergroundpanther]

24. I dunno if it's true

but my mom told me about it.She has no reason to lie, She spoke of the disregard the military has for dangerous substances and public safety ..This incident she says, happened before people knew fallout was dangerous.At Aberdeen proving grounds she said some secretaries and janitors there vacuumed up some fall out with a vacuum cleaner like you would use on a carpet,they sucked up some fallout and threw the vacuum cleaner bag,into the Chesapeake bay.

Bush has made the military exempt from the EPA already..

We Have Met The Enemy

The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest polluter in the world, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. (1) The types of hazardous wastes used by the military include pesticides and defoliants like Agent Orange. It includes solvents, petroleum, perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel) lead and mercury. And most ominously, depleted uranium.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0327-21.htm

I wrote about the Perchlorate in Our water where I live.
http://www.unknownnews.net/031218a-up.html


The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is our country’s largest polluter, responsible for over 29,000 toxic hot spots on 11,000 active and former military properties with a cleanup price tag in the billions of dollars. Our military produces more hazardous waste every year than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. Yet, the DOD has demanded Congress grant them sweeping exemptions from a myriad of hazardous waste, cleanup, and wildlife protection laws.
http://www.besafenet.com/Military%20Toxics.htm


And check this link..pechlorate flows twords water..
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/2002/Perchlorate-Water-Cold-War16dec02.htm


And there is this dirty little ditty..

Internal memo from the EPA’s Chief Financial Officer, Lyons Gray, where he calls for plans to shut down at least 20 percent of the EPA’s 16 research laboratories by 2011. Gray calls for closing a minimum of 10 percent of labs by 2009 and for plans to oust top scientists, work with state and tribal groups to reduce regulatory oversight. The EPA budget has been steadily cut by the Bush Administration over the past couple of years and the President’s 2007 budget provides a billion dollars less then it did in 2003. Now they want to reduce regulatory oversight.

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/reports.htm

[Supersedeas]

27. Memo to House Repigs -- they have found the missing WMD

[A Simple Game]

28. My question is;

why would the most moral of countries want or need 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents?

My second question; how much do we have left, and where is it stored? You don't think we got rid of all of it, did you?

[onethatcares]

30. I think they have a lot at Anniston Army depot

and probably somemore at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, possibly some in New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and the rest of the states. And people wonder why we older ones have a strange sense of foreboding about our country,.

[mikeyj84]

63. ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT

YOU CAN BET ON THAT BUD, I USED TO HAVE TO STAND GAURD FOR THAT SHIT WHEN I WAS STATIONED THERE.

[Javaman]

31. That is the 64 million dollar question nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

34. That would be 64 million pounds over the past 80 years.

The first dumping would have been right after WW1, and continued regularly ever since.

And I have no doubt that we have a full complement of illegal weapons, from toxic gasses to smallpox, stashed safely away 'just in case', regardless of our treaty obligations.

[davepc]

51. The article says they stopped in 1972.

So using the end of World War I as a start date, it's only been 50 years, give or take that they did it.

Not that 50 years is ok, but its better then 80+.

[RaleighNCDUer]

81. That's what they say.

They also say we don't make chemical/biological weapons anymore.

And I so totally believe them.

[davepc]

53. The article says some of the ammount was left over German stocks from the world wars.

It wasn't all American produced chemical agents.

[shance]

29. How can they not see this destroys everything and everyone? It makes no sense.

It's like the ultimate act of self destruction really.

It benefits no one and hurts every being and every thing in the long run.

Baffles the mind and breaks the heart.

[anotherCTliberal]

38. Sure, it makes perfect sense.

Shrub and his lot of Fundies are trying to hasten the Rapture, so it's fine to piss away this planet. :banghead:

[Demeter]

70. It Explains Congress, For Sure

[hatrack]

32. I, for one, welcome our new crustacean overlords!

:toast:

[Eurobabe]

33. Have some more fish!

This is disgusting. Can they be sued?

[lonestarnot]

36. Sovereign Immunity says no.

[smtpgirl]

35. So what else is the US going to completely ruin for everyone

and every living thing on the planet!!!

Sometimes I get so sick of arrogance, self-absorbtion and the self-interest. When will we ever learn?

[davepc]

72. Almost all the World War II Allies dumped their chemical weapon stocks in the oceans after the war

the USA is not the sole culprit here.

The Baltic sea is filled with German chemical war stocks sunk by the Allies. As well as UK, Canadian, and Soviet produced agents.

Thing is, the UK has been a bit more proactive in addressing the problem.

Here's a portion of an article adressing UK dumping.

The British dumped approximately 175,000 tons of chemical weapons at sea, with 100,000 tons coming from and the balance from the captured German stockpile. During 1955-56, the British dumped a further 17,000 tons of captured German munitions. During 1956-1957, the British disposed of the remainder of their stockpile of chemical weapons, 8,000 tons of World War II vintage mustard and phosgene munitions. News reports indicate that the ocean dumping in the 1950s occurred in the Irish Sea; some of the British dumps in the late 1940s may have occurred in the North Sea.

http://www.lietuvos.net/zinios/gas_ww2.htm

[Bjorn Against]

37. And yet our "leaders" have the nerve to tell us who can be trusted with WMDs and who can't

This makes it clear that no government can be trusted with Weapons of Mass Destruction, ESPECIALLY not this one. Disarm Bush now.

[file83]

62. They tell us who can be trusted to judge the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels.

The same asshat who gave the go ahead on dumping 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard gas into the ocean is probably the same fucktard saying man has NO contribution to global warming.

Jesus Fucking H. Christ on a popsicle stick.

[proud patriot]

40. well that's just fucking dandy

:sarcasm:

[kineneb]

41. military has been dumping nasty stuff off the Farallon Islands (CA)

for years...Hubby says he doesn't want to think about it too much...he worked at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in the early 1970's...says that some of the drums they dumped didn't sink, so they shot holes in them...stuuuuupid.

ed for spelling

[datadiva]

43. And the oceans are dying again why?

Our world as we know it will soon cease to exist. This is criminal.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

45. Surf's Over

This is beyond appalling.

:puke: :grr: :mad:

[AZBlue]

48. This is horrific.

I would like to see someone held criminally liable for this.

What can be done to reverse the effects???!?!

[davepc]

50. Congress banned the practice in 1972.

In the early 1970s, the Army publicly admitted it dumped some chemical weapons off the U.S. coast. Congress banned the practice in 1972. Three years later, the United States signed an international treaty prohibiting ocean disposal of chemical weapons.

So we're mainly talking about World War I, II, Korea and Vietnam era stuff right?

[Chalco]

52. Does anyone know approximately when the dumping was done?

This really makes me sick. I'd like to know the timeline for the dumpings.

[davepc]

55. From the end of World War I to 1972 when congress banned the practice of ocean dumping.

according to the article.

The problem is that not all the chemicals break down in sea water. Also, as the munitions rust away, the chemicals are slowly released into the ocean.

[ClayZ]

54. .

:grr:

[mikeyj84]

58. Nerve gas, mustard gas, willie pete

they dumped a lot of that crap in the early 70's. one day you'll wake up and see the biggest fish kill in the history of mankind. the good old U.S. of A. Military complex, the biggest polluters of them all. Who polices the Police????????????

[The Backlash Cometh]

66. The perfect storm.

Our government was taken over by business men, and now they have the freedom to be as irresponsible as our military has been.

It's a wonder we're still here.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

67. What is Lewisite?

[davepc]

68. A blister agent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisite

Lewisite is a chemical compound from a chemical family called arsines. While it is a colorless and odorless liquid when pure it is usually found as an oily, brown liquid with a distinct odor similar to geraniums. It is a chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant (blister agent) and lung irritant, and can be used in combination with mustard gas as mustard-lewisite.

It can easily penetrate ordinary clothing and even rubber; upon skin contact it causes immediate pain and itching with a rash and swelling. Blisters develop after 12 hours, and discomfort lasts for 2 to 3 days. Sufficient absorption can cause systemic poisoning leading to liver necrosis or death.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

69. Horrible...

It makes one wonder how many sea creatures consumed that stuff before they were caught for someone's dinner. :-(

[davepc]

71. The biggest problem is it adds to the arsenic levels where it's located.

From a 2006 Department of the Army report: SUBJECT: Military Sea Disposal Operations Near Hawaii

http://www.kahea.org/lcr/pdf/Army_munitions_report_2006.pdf

Lewisite has a significantly lower melting point than Mustard and will generally be found as a liquid
at temperatures found at ocean depths. Lewisite is also somewhat denser than the Mustards. The
solubility of Lewisite is not a significant factor in its fate and transport, since it is hydrolyzed
instantaneously in water, through which it loses its blister agent properties.

Lewisite was manufactured in the United States prior to World War II. After 1943, the U.S. military
ceased Lewisite production, except for small quantities produced for testing and identification. In
1948, the bulk of the 20,000 tons manufactured during World War II were disposed of at deep water
locations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Lewisite normally contained stabilizers to prevent its decomposition from reaction with the iron in
munitions. Lewisite, in its common form, actually consists of a mixture of several arsenic isomers.
Lewisite is 36 percent arsenic. The hydrolysis of Lewisite involves a number of intermediate,
reversible steps, first rapidly hydrolyzing to form chlorovinylarsine oxide (a blood toxin) and
hydrochloric acid, and resulting in a final product of polymerized arsenic oxide.

In summary, Lewisite released into the marine environment will quickly loose its blister agent
(vesicant) properties through hydrolysis (exposure to seawater), resulting in a net increase in arsenic
concentrations either in sediments (in the case of insoluble end products) or in solution.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

73. Memo to Deciders: Ravaging of the Environment had Consequences, STUPID !

:grr: It's called blow back and most likely will effect everyone's children! :cry: :cry:

[davepc]

74. The decider was AWOL from the Air Guard when the last of the dumping occured

The crime now is the lack of any attempt to

a) force the Army/Navy to disclose in full all KNOWN dumping sites
b) funding location efforts to find unknown sites
c) funding cleanup efforts


Back in the 20's and 40's (the majority of the dumping was World War I and II stocks) people didn't know any better or didn't think it through.

Now we know better and should take action to fix it. Of course Bushs cutting of EPA funding and lack of any effort to make the military follow environmental rule and regulations isn't helping.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

75. Thank you, I took it back! I think all the deciders who allowed this were stupid!

I believe Dems and Repugs are two sides of the same coin! Oops,I mean I love DU and it's all the Republican war profiteers fault! :hi:

[me b zola]

77. .

:grr:

[incapsulated]

78. Good Christ!

This shit will be dissolving into our water for who knows how long and they aren't giving up all the information about where it is??

:grr:

[Neoma]

79. I think I'll go cry now.

[Thor_MN]

80. Of the branches of the US Military, I believe the Navy has the fewest hazardous waste cleanup sites

Now I wonder why that might be? :shrug: