Defense Environment Alert

Vol. 14, No. 3--February 7, 2006

HAWAII DEMOCRAT EYES STUDY OF MUNITIONS DUMPS IN DEFENSE BILL

A Hawaii Democrat is vowing to include in next year's defense bill a provision requiring a comprehensive study of sites where the military has dumped chemical weapons off-shore, after the military in a cursory review confirmed such dumping had occurred.

The Army last month released a brief information paper on an ongoing investigation by the military into munitions that were dumped off the coast of Hawaii and in other ocean locations that showed the military had disposed of weapons through ocean dumping.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, says the progress report, while understandably incomplete, points to the need "for a thorough, comprehensive study and analysis," according to a Feb. I press statement. Abercrombie previously said he would consider legislation after obtaining the Army's initial report (Defense Environment Alert, Dec. 13, 2005, p20).

His legislation will require an underwater survey of chemical munitions dump sites, the monitoring of confirmed dump sites and Hawaii coastal waters to detect releases of agent, and research to examine the long-term effects of sea water on chemical weapons. The legislation will also require a report to Congress on the dump sites' public health and environmental risks and on the feasibility and likely costs of cleanup, Abercrombie says. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA. com. See page 2 for details.

The Army's Jan. 31 information paper, Military Sea Disposal Operations Near Hawaii, provides a brief summary of findings to date on the military services' ongoing archive search of historical records on the disposal of military munitions at-sea.  The Army maintains it will complete an update of a 2001 disposal report in March or April, an informed source says.

The information paper lays out the dates of known instances of disposals of chemical and conventional munition weapons, and in some cases, their general locations and depths in waters around Hawaii.

DOD is in the midst of reviewing existing studies on the effects of seawater on chemical munitions and the munitions' impacts on marine life, it says.  In notes that chemical agents degrade over time--from minutes to months depending on the type of agent and environmental conditions.