Congress probing weapons dumping
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Federal lawmakers are demanding the Army reveal everything it knows about where it dumped chemical weapons into the world’s oceans, as well as provide proof the munitions won’t leak and cause an environmental catastrophe.
Hearings in the House Armed Services Committee are likely if the Army’s response is inadequate, said U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J. and a committee member.
“We’re not going to let this go,” Andrews said. “I’m not going to be satisfied with the Army saying, in effect, ‘We know the facts, and we don’t think there is a problem – trust us.’ “
Andrews has been pushing for more information from the Army since the Daily Press of Newport News, Va., published an investigation into the Army’s decades-long ocean dumping off at least 11 states, including New Jersey.
The newspaper found that the Army dumped at least 64 million pounds of chemical weapons, mostly mustard and nerve gas, from World War II until 1970 and more than that off 16 other countries. The weapons likely are still active and slowly corroding in the salt water.
Andrews wants to know where exactly the dumps are, why they haven’t been monitored, and why the Army told no one in Congress or at the state level of the potential dangers lurking offshore. He wants proof that the weapons aren’t leaking and won’t leak, he said.
Other lawmakers are also demanding answers.
“The decision to dump these weapons was made in a different era, at a time when the consequences were not understood the way they are today,” said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii.
“Still, the Department of Defense and the U.S. government bear a responsibility for remedying the problem,” he said. ” I will make it a priority to enact legislation to deal with the problem and communicate the urgency of this issue to the Pentagon.”
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., issued a formal letter of inquiry to the Army and has scheduled an informal briefing with military officials for this afternoon. Warner is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Under fire, the Army has decided to conduct a full search of all surviving ocean-dumping records to identify any other chemical-weapon dumpsites. It’s also preparing a formal response to questions from Congress. And it’s expected to designate which military agency will oversee the record search, as well as any other response deemed necessary.
“The U.S. Army is actively engaged with members of Congress regarding the disposal of munitions at deep-sea locations,” Army spokesman John P. Boyce Jr. said. “As always, the U.S. Army will work closely with Congress and other government agencies on these ordnance-disposal issues to ensure the safety of others and the protection of our environment.”
The Army says it doesn’t know the locations of almost half the dump zones that it created off the United States after World War II. Records are vague or missing or were destroyed.
More chemical-weapon dumpsites likely exist because the Army hasn’t reviewed dumping records from the World War I era, when throwing chemical weapons into the ocean was common.
Some evidence suggests the weapons might have leaked or will leak in the future as the ordnance corroded from exposure to salt water. Steel containers and shell casings corrode at different rates, depending on the depth and temperature of the water.
When released, nerve gas lasts about six weeks in the ocean, killing every organism that it touches. Mustard gas forms a concentrated gel that survives at least five years in salt water, rolling around on the ocean floor.
Army reports dating to 1989 identified the locations and contents of more than a dozen dumpsites. Only now have those reports come to light.
“It just seems so unconscionable to me for the military to just wash their hands of it and not tell people where they are until now,” said John Hocevar, an ocean specialist for Greenpeace, a worldwide environmental organization. “It seems like it’s a threat that won’t just go away.”