Posted on 04/11/2021 7:44:38 AM PDT by deport
Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine.
Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Yipes!
Well at least we know there’s no mosquitoes down there.
DDT did a job on me. Now I am a real sickee.
Is there really any DDT left in the drums?
Looks like whatever was in it has coagulated around it.
So what really happens when those drums rust away and gradually release the DDT toxins into the ocean? Can’t be good. However doesn’t the gradual release and dilution mean that the actual enviormental consequences are not that severe?
The real science won’t matter of course. What will matter will be how this will be used to advance the anti capitalist narrative.
Seventy years later, probably mostly gone by now. DDT is classified as a "probable carcinogen" - not much of a threat diluted in the ocean.
Still, mindblowing idiocy by the corporate/government poohbahs.
Fifty years ago there were found barrels of radioactive waste dumped off San Francisco. No one went into a panic then even though the news media tried to frighten everyone.
It was bad policy at the time. Disturbing them now would be worse policy. Slowly diluting on their own in peace.
That's not a totally incorrect idea, if dilution actually occurred over a very large area. Seems to me, dumping in one spot and keeping the chemicals in barrels sort of negates that.
***DDT is classified as a “probable carcinogen”***
I used to spray myself down with DDT bug killer (not repellent) fifty two years ago in SE Asia. Still Kicking at 74 and no cancers.
I just read that DDT has a half life of 2-15 years in soil. And saw 15 years in reference to marine life.
So if these barrels are all over 70 years old. Then 70/15 = 4.7. So (1/2)^5 = 1/32.
It should be about 1/32 it’s original strength. And if the barrels can survive another 15-20 yeas then 1/64.
Probably best to either leave it alone or cover it up with more sand. I’ll defer to the experts on FR.
So what!
It’s California. Who cares?
The democrats are making all of the California surface a toxic dump of excrement, needles, human debris, third world detritus, etc. so why worry about what’s going on in the ocean.
“..not much of a threat diluted in the ocean.”
Yes especially since as you point out the release was in all probability very slow and took years to occur. I also don’t believe DDT was thought to be harmful to anything except insects at that time.
Wow...25% of adult sea lions have cancer. They are counting the barrels down there; estimates are up to a half million which seems quite high. But even tens of thousands or low hundreds of thousands — yikes. Scripps is doing a survey to count the barrels.
The pressure at 3,000 feet of water is 1,350 psi. You would expect to see thin wall barrels crushed and collapsed — if they were water and airtight. The fact that they are not crushed suggests they were not water and airtight which allowed pressure to equalize as they were falling to the seabed. Which suggests that the barrels are all leaking.
Giving this the full measure of worth:
Good thing you aren’t one of the 25% of sea lions living in the vicinity with cancer.
And have been for 70 years.
Wow
It’s also off SF-the Farallones.
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