Note: The US Army admitted the radiological contamination of Hawaii in the summer of 2007. The contamination was later confirmed by the senior US Senator from Hawaii, The Honorable Daniel Inouye. The first 2007 Army air born radiological contamination survey identified 45 locations with dangerous levels of Gamma Ray radiation from US Army uranium munitions. Satellite radiation observations have not been released by the Pentagon.
Bob Nichols
Project Censored Award Winner
San Francisco Bay View Correspondent
Lindafaye Kroll RN BSN
Army admits to the contamination of Hawaiian islands with depleted uranium spotting rounds on Schofield Barracks, O'ahu and Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawai'i Island. Help us save paradise from this most toxic substance. (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Public comment to U.S. Army SEIS deadline Oct. 30, 2007
Email Army at PublicComments@aec.apgea.army.mil
Hawaii Tourism Authority at info@hawaiitourismauthority.org
(Hawaii) Depleted uranium (DU) is stored in Hawai'i under the Naval Radioactive Materials Permit. The Navy accidentally fired two DU rounds from Pearl Harbor in 1994. The rounds landed somewhere above Aiea and were never recovered. The Environmental Impact Statement of the 25th Infantry Transformation to the Stryker Brigade Combat Team published in 2004 states emphatically that depleted uranium munitions were never part of the Army's arsenal.
Despite this claim spent DU spotting rounds were found at Schofield Barracks, (An army base and live-fire training range on O'ahu), in August 2005. This discovery was not disclosed by the military but through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) instigated by concerned residents of Hawai'i.
In August 2007 the army admits the Pohakuloa Training Area (An army base and live-fire training range on Hawai'i Island) is also contaminated with depleted uranium spotting rounds. There are hundreds and hundreds of these spent DU rounds on these two live-fire training ranges.
Any uranium product used as munitions becomes ballistic once it is fired, launched or dropped. Ballistic depleted uranium contamination is a serious problem in Hawai'i.
Depleted uranium is a toxic radioactive waste product of the nuclear industry that has a half life of over 4 billion years. In other words, DU is radioactive forever.
The military claims that depleted uranium munitions are low level radioactivity and are not harmful to health and environment. The military's claims are false.
The military's talking points are about the solid form depleted uranium, the military never addresses Hawai'i residents' concerns, which is the ballistic form of depleted uranium. When depleted uranium munitions are used in war or artillery practices, these munitions have a devastating effect on public health and the environment.
Once DU munitions are launched, they become ballistic. They catch fire, and on impact they can punch through anything with tremendous force causing trillions of tiny radioactive particles of DU dust to be scattered in the environment and carried in the air.
This is when the real public health problem begins. Once airborne, these vaporized radioactive heavy metal particles can be inhaled or ingested because of radioactive contamination of air, food or water supply.
