Lewisite Lost at Sea, a Look at Munitions Sea Disposal Site Data

In this 2nd article in a series of articles on the 2007 Annual Defense Environmental Report to Congress, UXOInfo.com analyzes Munitions Sea Disposal Sites. A new appendix to the Annual Report to Congress added in 2006, summary data on munitions sea disposal sites is now included in the report. A comparison of FY2006 data (i.e. Appendix R of the 2006 Report) to FY2007 data (i.e. Appendix S of the FY2007 report) yields some interesting observations. In 2006, DoD reported that 29,401 tons of CWM Munitions were dumped at sea at 19 sites in U.S. Waters. In 2007, DoD reported the total number of sites at 30 and the total amount of CWM munitions disposed at 29,652 tons.

It appears that 11 sites were added to the inventory including:

• Johnston Atoll in the Pacific;
• Vieques in the Caribbean;
• Puget Sound off the coast of Washington State;
• Pearl Harbor, Hawaii;
• A second site off the coast of California (location unknown):
• Bush River, Maryland (Chesapeake Bay);
• Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi;
• Penobscott Bay off the coast of Maine; and
• 3 sites in the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Maine, Delaware and New Jersey respectively.

Despite the nearly 60 percent increase in the number of sites reported, the tonnage of CWM munitions reported as disposed at sea only increased by 251 tons (.06 percent). Some chemical agent types actually decreased in value including Lewisite which dropped from 11,141 tons reported in 2006 to 10,654 tons reported in 2007.

From a public relations perspective, the report brings up more questions than it answers. For starters, the inventory does not include two very well known munitions sea disposal sites  Surf City, New Jersey and Ordnance Reef in Hawaii. The current New Jersey and Hawaii sites listed in the FY2007 report are to far from shore compared to the known locations of the Surf City munitions sea disposal site (i.e. 3 miles northeast of Surf City) and Ordnance Reef (off of the coast of O'ahu 3 miles SW of Wai'anae). The revised inventory also drops a bombshell (please pardon the pun) when it lists some "new" potentially high-risk sites in terms of the potential for a complete source-receptor pathway interaction including underwater munitions dispsoal sites located in Bush River, Maryland; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and Horn Island, Mississippi. However, with little more than a dot on a map in the back of an appendix to the Annual Report to Congress, it's impossible to estimate the potential risks to human health and/or the environment at these sites.

The "final inventory report" is technically not due till the FY2009 Report is released (i.e. 2 years from now) but it sure would be nice if DoD would make more of details available regarding these munitions sea disposal sites for public safety reasons as well as to avoid potential future Surf City incidents.

To view Appendix S "Sea Disposal of Military Munitions" of the FY2007 Defense Environmental Report to Congress, use the download link below.