joker17's Blog

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 the United States by the U.S. Army, primarily as part of Operation CHASE 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 at least 11 states on both the west and east coasts. Additionally, due to poor records, they currently only know the rough whereabouts of half of them.

It is unknown how these dumps of chemical weapons have affected the ocean ecology. 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.

 

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

 

That's 64,000,000 pounds. I just hope their inability to keep records of the other half of the dumping locations, didn't reflect on their ability to build extra strong steel containers. How the heck can folks in the Army, out of all the places, not keep records safe, so future generations may know the steel contiainer's whereabouts?

It's mind boggling, that such an undertaking wouldn't be top priority to record and make multiple copies, stored safely in various locations.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CFoJuRcjHU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbPUzhWeeI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNeEb7I3bwI&feature=channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always wished I could draw like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov8E4fCz6o8&feature=related

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81004388/