Fishing Expedition

Hawaiian politicians continue to fret about the possibility that US Army chemical weapons, mostly designed during World War II and dropped off-shore in deep waters, might be still a threat to the environment or to its people clustering around the beaches. While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) checked out the military munitions at "Ordnance Reef" and declared the water, fish, and general area to be safe, they want more tests.

The University of Hawai'i's two submersible craft will descend 900 to 2,000 feet to the ocean floor five miles south of Pearl Harbor starting next week to search for tons of chemical weapons that were dumped during and after World War II, the Army said.

The 15 days of daytime dives, augmented by the use of robotic vehicles at night, are part of the Army's ongoing assessment of the health and environmental effects from the old munitions, which were ditched by the military at three deep-water sites five to 10 miles south of Pearl Harbor and Wai'anae.
--------
Tad Davis, the Army's assistant secretary for the environment, yesterday said sampling of water, sediment, fish and limu will be coordinated by UH at Ordnance Reef in April and again in late August or early September.

In late fall, the Army also plans to test the use of robotic underwater vehicles and water-drill technology for the removal of some of the shallow-water munitions.
--------
A 2007 report to Congress said 2,558 tons of chemical agents were dumped at three deepwater sites off O'ahu, including lewisite, mustard, cyanogen chloride and cyanide.

Included in the ordnance dump were 15,000 M70 115-pound mustard bombs, 1,100 M79 1,000-pound cyanogen chloride bombs and 20 M79 1,000-pound cyanide rounds. The weapons are in waters up to 10,000 feet deep.

It makes perfect sense. The weapons are in waters 5-10 miles off-shore at depths up to 10,000 feet. So you send a couple subs that go to 2000 feet in an attempt to see if munitions dropped there about 60 years ago are either leaking or have affected the local fish and fauna. Prediction - they're not going to find anything. The shells will have been covered over by sediment and coral, making it even more dangerous to move than to just let them remain undisturbed. But then again, as I noted yesterday, policy makers don't have to listen to logic or to scientists. They have their own rhythm. Whatever lets them sleep at night...

Comments

[Ray]

It is difficult to see how they'd deal with the alleged danger anyway. As you said, best left alone.
We've got a victim of war, an ammunition ship, which was sunk offshore (about 3 miles from my house) which if disturbed could cause an explosion of biblical dimensions. Thing is, no one can do anything about it. Covered in silt and weed; a kind of reef, it poses no direct threat to anything.
R.

[J.]

Cyanogen chloride and HCN work well if you have a number of artillery batteries firing it all at once, create a quick build-up at a single target. Not very efficient as you note, but good for harrassing enemy artillery units. At least that was the tactic of the time.

[Sock Puppet of the Great Satan]

"Not very efficient as you note, but good for harrassing enemy artillery units."

Ah. You're not looking for a high yield, just to make their day miserable. Got it.

Cheers.