Posted on 05/26/2004 8:22:24 PM PDT by Flavius
EPA Fines Army Over Nerve Gas Release
2 hours, 48 minutes ago Add U.S. Government - AP to My Yahoo!
SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Army and a contractor were fined nearly $52,000 for releasing a deadly chemical weapon on a wildlife sanctuary in the Pacific Ocean, federal environmental officials announced Wednesday.
An unknown quantity of VX nerve agent was released in August 2002 at a chemical weapons disposal facility on Johnston Atoll, the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites)'s office in San Francisco said. The release occurred when a tray holding remnants of a VX shell was improperly loaded into an incinerator.
Exposure to the agent can cause paralysis and death within minutes, but there were no known exposures or reports of harm to any person or any wildlife, said Dean Higuchi of the EPA.
The atoll, located 825 miles southwest of Honolulu, is a national a bird sanctuary. It also held more than 6 percent of the nation's stockpile of chemical weapons — 412,000 different types of explosives, mustard and nerve agents. Congress ordered the weapons destroyed in 1986.
Disposal began in 1990 at a facility jointly operated by the Army and its contractor, Washington Group International of Boise, Idaho. Neither the Army nor Washington Group admitted wrongdoing as part of the fine.
The Army had agreed to pay nearly $400,000 for previous violations in 1994 and 2000 involving VX and sarin gas.
More than 4 million pounds of chemical weapons and agents have been destroyed on Johnston Atoll since 1990. The Army has dismantled the facility and is in the process of restoring the site to its natural role as a wildlife refuge.
So what is the EPA going to do if the Army tells them to kiss off? Use force?
I donno they have those dudes with .38 snub nose
we dont mess with them here...
"...412,000 different types of explosives..."
- - -
I don't believe this number.
I want to see a list.
"...412,000 different types of explosives..."
412,000 is close to the total number of rounds of different types of chemical/bio weapons that have been destroyed on Johonson Atoll.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2000/b11302000_bt715-00.html
My guess is that the author is uninformed and thought there were 412,000 varieties of chemical/bio weapons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.