December 10, 2005
The military is plowing through old records to find any
and all information on the Army's ocean dumping of chemical weapons decades
ago, a high priority effort to determine where they all are located and what
danger they pose today.
The Army hopes to finish its record search by the end of March, said Addison
Davis, an assistant secretary of the Army.
"What we're conducting right now is probably the most comprehensive search
on records ... that has ever been done," he said. "Our goal is to compile
the best, most comprehensive, up-to-date information possible."
An order from the highest levels of the Pentagon has gone out to all branches
of the military to search for all ocean dumping records, not just of chemical
weapons but of conventional ordnance as well, Davis said.
The Army is most interested in discovering where it dumped all its chemical
weapons into the sea from World War I until 1970, when the practice was halted.
Officials want to know exactly where they are located and what type of chemical
weapons - as well as how many - are in each dumpsite.
Then the Army will be better able to assess the risk each site poses to
fishermen or the environment, Davis said.
The records search was prompted by a Daily Press investigation published
in October - based on never-before released Army reports covering 1944 to
1970 - that revealed the military dumped at least 64 million pounds of chemical
weapons into the ocean in dozens of locations that virtually ring the country.
The dumpsites - mostly containing mustard and nerve gases and some radioactive
waste - are off the coastlines of at least 11 states. Additional dumpsites
are off the coasts of 16 other countries. The sites were created when the
U.S. Army dumped its overseas stockpiles of chemical weapons at the close
of World War II.
The Army knows where only half the dumpsites off the U.S. coast are, because
the known surviving records are vague and others have been destroyed.
More dumpsites likely exist, because the Army only now is reviewing chemical
weapons dumping in the World War I-era, when it was common to throw the weapons
over the side of ships in relatively shallow water.
Some scientific evidence suggests the weapons may be slowly leaking after
decades of saltwater corrosion.
In the wake of the newspaper's investigation, the Army has begun a military-wide
records search which includes a review of ship manifests, a look at historical
nautical charts, and perusal of old chemical weapons shipments kept at a variety
of Army bases.
The Army also has collected scientific research on long-known dumpsites overseas
of chemical weapons. It briefed at least eight federal lawmakers who demanded
data about the dumping.
"We've tried to be very responsive in replying to questions on the Hill,"
said Davis, a civilian near the top of the Army's chain of command. "That
I personally did the briefing sends a signal of the importance I place on
this."
The Army also has been busy researching the stories of individuals who came
forward to report health effects they said are related to their participation
in dumping operations long ago.
Davis said the Army has learned that safety measures were taken at the time
to ensure that military personnel were not casually exposed to chemical agents
or radioactive waste.
Medical records of one former serviceman who helped dump radioactive waste
off the coast of Virginia in 1960 show that he was exposed only to the equivalent
of eight chest X-rays, Davis said.
No new chemical weapons dumpsites have been identified since the record
search began at the end of October.
But if others are found, Davis promised that information would be promptly
released to Congress and the news media. He also vowed to give Congress progress
reports, as the paperwork search continues and as discussions begin on what
to do about the weapons that were dumped.
There is no easy answer for handling the weapons, once all the dumpsites
are identified and their contents are catalogued.
Most, but not all, are in deep water far from shore, according to Army reports
completed in 1989 and 2001, and released to the Daily Press this summer.
Some of the weapons may have released their deadly contents long ago, causing
an unknown environmental impact.
Others likely remain intact where they were dumped, barnacle-encrusted and
too unstable after all these years in the ocean to haul up from the ocean
floor.
Shells corrode at different rates, depending on their thickness and the
temperature of the water, and some may already be leaking - an extreme danger
to any recovery effort.
A 2002 study by Norwegian scientists who studied chemical weapons dumped
off that country's coast by the U.S. or British military after World War II
revealed that some shells have leaked. Others are slowly corroding, and some
seem to be undamaged, so far, by the saltwater.
Some scientists estimated the weapons pose a continuous risk of leaking
over the next 100 years.
"We believe it is highly unlikely any of this stuff is in danger of washing
up on shore," Davis said. "But we're putting a full-court press on this issue."
