Clam boat pulls up canisters of mustard gas off NY, crew sickened

Originally posted by muzzleflash
From the link Primus gave us.
www.commondreams.org...

The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.

Holy Crapola!

That sounds Extremely bad.

I put bold on the parts that were craziest.

I second that. Maybe overfishing hasn't been the problem, maybe we've just been killing the ocean in secret all these years, with this kind of junk.

Some things that really baked my noodle from that article:

The reports reveal that the Army created at least 26 chemical weapons dumpsites off the coast of at least 11 states - but knows the rough nautical coordinates of only half.
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The Army's documents are incomplete or vague. Years of records are missing or were destroyed to clear office space at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, a longtime chemical weapon research and testing base.
And the Army hasn't reviewed its records of chemical weapons dumping before World War II, when it was common to just throw the weapons into the ocean in relatively shallow water, Brankowitz said.
As a result, more dumpsites likely exist, he conceded.
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"It would be inevitable, I assume, all of this will be released into the ocean at some point or another," said Williams, who has fought Army plans to incinerate some of the 44 million pounds of chemical weapons the country still has stockpiled.
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One of the first of the now-identified dump zones created at the end of World War II was also one of the largest. The Army dubbed it Disposal Site Baker.
The Army has only the vaguest idea where it is on the ocean floor - somewhere off the coast of Charleston, S.C., the most specific surviving records indicate.
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Several mustard gas bombs fell into the Mississippi River near Braithwaite, La., in 1945 and have never been found.
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Two ships full of the most potent of all nerve gases, known as VX, were scuttled in 6,000 feet of water - miles off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., as part of Operation CHASE. "CHASE" was Pentagon shorthand for "Cut Holes and Sink 'Em."
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Boaters, divers, fishermen and commercial seafood trawlers have no way to steer clear of the dumpsites.
That's because the Army has put only one of its 26 known chemical weapons dumps on nautical charts, according to records kept by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Not knowing exactly where these dumpsites are and their conditions is frightening. The Army being able to give only vague details is shameful.

I'm not one against off-shore drilling, but it gives me great pause now. Seismic exploration, sea-floor collapses, oil rigs sinking or stirring up the quiet waters could be the straw that broke the camels back too soon.

Man, sometimes ignorance is bliss.

I wish they had produced a detailed description of the said canisters with any kind of markings shape etc. Ive seen old mustard gas canisters in iraq in large piles alongside gas masks in a place outside fallujah known as Shihabi which is a chain of 3 small villages. Its located near the fallujah train station to the east by about 3 kilometers. there were chickens that were walking in the area with seriously deformed feet and beak areas and dead cattle and dogs nearby. the people said that the RG had put that there before we invaded and was eventually cleared by british and us army NBC. the ordinance for such things is all over the place over there although declared minimally threatning it still exists in abundance. alongside stock piles of missles and undetonated JDAM bombs just laying around if I knew how to upload pics on here from my computer id post pictures

even worse, the country who used this and agent orange, effing SOB's.

The country that did this = USA.

Officials: Fishermen caught mustard gas off NY
The military used the ocean as a dumping ground for munitions from after World War II through 1970.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

It is a sickening feeling to think about this and to know that there are toxic landfills as well.

Originally posted by thedarklingthrush
Chlorine, phosgene, Trichloromethyl chloroformate, , all used by the allies before 1920.

Phosgene smells like new mown hay or grass.

Chlorine smells like chlorine (I know, duhhh!)

Mustard can smell like mustard or onions, or have no smell.

I'm betting mustard.

update

www.msnbc.msn.com...

snippet

"BOSTON -- The Coast Guard says a clam boat that dragged up canisters of mustard gas earlier this month as well as the cold storage facility where the vessel was moored and cleaned have been fully decontaminated.

The Coast Guard announced last weekend that there is no detectable sulfur mustard contamination aboard the vessel ESS Pursuit, or at Sea Watch International in New Bedford. In addition, 180 clam cages were also decontaminated.


~meathead

reply to post by Mike Stivic
Thanks for the update.

The 17 transport trucks that took the 504,00 pounds of clams for disposal in Texas and Arkansas will be decontaminated after the incineration of the clams.

Is that a typo that's supposed to say 504,000 pounds of clams? If so, that's a lot of clams!