=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #224
—March 13, 1991—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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THE NATION’S GREATEST DANGER: SECRECY.
Imagine, for a moment, that a foreign nation has dispatched a
band of terrorists to the United States. The intruders silently
move across the landscape depositing toxic chemicals at thousands
of sites around the country. Some of the toxic compounds quickly
enter the rivers and underground reservoirs that supply America
with drinking water. Other chemicals contaminate our
neighborhoods and backyards where our children play. Still others
sit like time bombs, destined to contaminate our water supplies
after months, years, or even decades. The toxic chemicals carried
by these enemies are the products of the most sophisticated
laboratories on earth. They cause birth defects, liver disease,
and cancer. Their effects may be felt for generations.
Unquestionably, if this imagined threat were real, we would turn
to the Pentagon to combat this threat to our national security.
After all, the Pentagon’s job is to defend the nation against
outside enemies.
But what do we do when the threat comes, not from abroad, but
from the Department of Defense (DOD) itself? What if our own
worst enemy is the same institution charged with defending us?
These are the opening words of the new report (The U.S.
Military’s Toxic Legacy–see RHWN #223) on 14,401 military toxic
chemical sites that our armed services have deposited at 1579
military installations in every state in the Union (see Figure
1–a map of the U.S. showing how many military dumps have been
identified so far in each state). The Pentagon currently
estimates that cleanup of these sites will cost $100 to $200
billion and will take at least 30 years. This cost projection
does not include military toxics deposited at American bases on
foreign soil. Nor does it include cleanup of the nuclear weapons
production plants known within DOD as The Weapons Complex
(Hanford, Rocky Flats, Fernald, Oak Ridge, and so forth).
Nevertheless, as astronomical and as incomplete as these cost
projections are, they at least give the impression that the
situation is understood and under control. Unfortunately, this is
a false impression.
What the military does not explain is that they have never
defined what they mean by cleanup (just as the Superfund cleanup
for non-military chemical dumps has never defined how clean is
clean). They have never evaluated health effects that may be
occurring to military personnel affected by chemicals, and they
have never evaluated possible effects on civilians who live near
contaminated military bases. Therefore, they cannot know what
kinds of cleanups may be needed, or what kinds of liabilities
they may have already engendered. And, finally, what they do not
explain is that, for many of the toxins that have already moved
into groundwater, there is currently no known technology for
effective cleanup at any cost. Therefore, the $100-to-$200
billion cleanup figure is a ballpark guesstimate based on
optimism and not much more.
On the bright side, the military has finally acknowledged that
these sites exist and require attention. For decades, a stone
wall of lies was all you got if you asked for information about
military toxics.
The U.S. Military’s Toxic Legacy was published just last week by
a savvy environmental organization–the National Toxic Campaign;
it appeared within a month of another new report called Complex
Cleanup; The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production,
published by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)-an
investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. Together, these two
reports flesh out details of a massive scandal first revealed, a
piece here, a piece there, by Keith Schneider of the NEW YORK
TIMES–that the U.S. military is the nation’s largest polluter
bar none, and that over the years the military has exposed
thousands (perhaps millions) of innocent Americans to deadly
amounts of radioactivity and to a witch’s brew of potent chemical
toxins, has covered up these facts, has lied to the victims and
their families, has lied to the press, has lied to Congress. It
is a scandal and an outrage on such a scale that it takes your
breath away.
Here are just a few quotations from the OTA report to help get
this problem into perspective:
“The past 45 years of nuclear weapons production have resulted in
the release of vast quantities of hazardous chemicals and
radionuclides to the environment.”
“Contamination of soil, sediments, surface water and groundwater
throughout the Nuclear Weapons Complex is extensive. At every
facility the groundwater is contaminated with radionuclides or
hazardous chemicals. Most sites in nonarid locations also have
surface water contamination. Millions of cubic meters [a meter
equals approximately a yard] of radioactive and hazardous wastes
have been buried throughout the complex, and there are few
adequate records of burial site locations and contents.” They
don’t even know where it’s buried.
The military has had a gold-plated budget for many decades. With
their big budgets, they can buy the best raw materials, the best
equipment, the latest gadgetry. Because of this, they have
attracted some of the best brains–smart researchers, bright
minds. And what they have managed to create is the biggest,
deadliest toxic mess on earth.
How could this have happened in America?
The answer is secrecy. Because the military operates largely
under wraps, they are free to make huge mistakes–release
enormous quantities of deadly radioactivity into communities,
bury appalling quantities of deadly chemicals below ground in
contact with drinking water supplies, then falsify records,
destroy evidence, and lie about it all with a confident smile. No
one can check on them because they have cloaked their work in the
American flag–they are protecting “national security” and the
rest of us are prying troublemakers if we ask questions.
This must change. Americans must come to see that “national
security” requires open scrutiny of whatever goes on at military
bases, or behind corporate fences. The military and its
counterparts in industry have proven–and it has now been
documented beyond any possible doubt–that they are incapable of
conducting their business safely, prudently, or even honestly.
They require alert, committed public citizen watchdogs to curb
their toxic excesses.
Get: THE U.S. MILITARY’S TOXIC LEGACY: AMERICA’S WORST
ENVIRONMENTAL ENEMY (Boston, MA: National Toxic Campaign Fund,
1991). Executive summary available for $2.00; full 128-page
report available for $20.00 from: Military Toxics Network, 2802
East Madison, Suite 177, Seattle, WA 98112. (206) 328-5257. And
get: Peter A. Johnson and others, COMPLEX CLEANUP; THE
ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRODUCTION (Washington,
DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991). Document No.
052-003-01222-7; 224 pages; $10.00 from: U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325. Phone: (202) 783-3238.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: military toxics; remedial actions; ota; dod;
rtk;