500lbguerilla
11-01-2005, 12:38 PM
...on the world.
Millions of pounds of unsealed chemical weapons and nuclear waste has been dumped in the oceans (particularly near virginia) by the US military between WW2 and 1970.
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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.
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.
(continued with pics)
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-pdf-dumping-global,0,4149514.acrobat
Millions of pounds of unsealed chemical weapons and nuclear waste has been dumped in the oceans (particularly near virginia) by the US military between WW2 and 1970.
+++++++++++++++++++
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.
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.
(continued with pics)
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-pdf-dumping-global,0,4149514.acrobat