Hawaiian Islands are Contaminated with Ballistic Uranium
Lindafaye Kroll RN BSN 03 Oct 2007 01:38 GMTArmy 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.
Spent depleted uranium spotting round. This is burnt DU.
October 3, 2007
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
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. Many of our U.S. Veterans, serving in combat areas that use DU munitions, are getting sick. Support legislation to test our troops returning from Iraq for depleted uranium.
We must stand up for Hawai’i. We must protect our precious islands and our veterans. The military live-fire ranges in Hawai’i are radioactive! See www.sbct-seis.org/ (published July 2007, chapter 3 page 7 Depleted Uranium). We want all live-fire military training stopped in paradise. We want the Stryker Brigade Combat Team to relocate elsewhere. We want our sacred lands to be cleaned up. Practicing to make war in the land of Aloha is inappropriate. Please be pro-active and help us protect Hawai’i; demand the military not store, use or transport depleted uranium in the Hawaiian Islands.
Five million tourists visit Hawai’i every year. Would they stop visiting if they knew how contaminated Hawai’i is? We are asking for people all over the world who love Hawai’i to help us protect Hawai’i. Write to the U.S Army by October 30 at PublicComments@aec.apgea.army.mil Say no Stryker Brigade in Hawai’i and clean-up depleted uranium contamination on live-fire training ranges. Also write the Hawai’i Tourism Authority at info@hawaiitourismauthority.org with the same request. For more information on the military’s contamination of Hawaii see www.protecthawaii.ws or www.dmzhawaii.org.
Lindafaye Kroll RN BSN
Keaau, Hawai’i
www.protecthawai’i.ws
e-mail:: tenfingers10toes@protecthawaii.ws
homepage:: http://www.protecthawaii.ws
DU toxic legacy
Hawaiian resident 03.Oct.2007 17:02
Dear Lindafaye:
The DU problem is dangerous and cannot be tolerated. It seems that the military has exclusive rights for doing all those things which if we did them just one day in our lives, would land us in jail for the rest of our days. Wars are decided around tables by the movers and shakers of the world and we are just the suckers who are supposed to fight them and pay for them, then breathe deeply of the toxic legacy and drop dead. What a deal! Enough already!
MAD AS HELL!!!
DO SOMETHING! Please send your comments to these addresses! 03.Oct.2007 19:48
NEWS FLASH!!! Army Confirms Depleted Uranium at Pohakuloa
But its not dangerous, so just move along folks... nothing to see here.
I'd like to add..... Hawaii residents and especially everyone downwind of any DU discovery wants the military to follow its own laws! Everyone wants free, "REAL" DU testing for all residents! The thousand dollar test!!! Everyone wants the military to follow is own laws to give medical care to anyone harmed ...and in regard to clean- up; close and pave Pohakuloa and every live fire range across the country that used DU! Everyone wants to know why the cancer rates, birth defects, thyroid, immune and neurological problems are so high downwind! Why are feral cats sick on the western slopes of Mauna Kea? Why are hunters reporting a greatly increased amount of tumors in sheep and goats? Hawaii residents want an INDEPENDENT monitor, NOW!
Everyone in Hawaii wants the army to clean up the other 871 contaminated sites, and however many hundred the navy, has, too! AND they must pay for what they've done to Hawaii and the rest of the country!!!!
(AND let the U.N. environmental team into Iraq to test and anywhere else we have contaminated, that they won't let in to test!)
WE SALUTE AND GIVE THANKS WITH DEEP GRATITUDE to Jim Albertini; Dr. Lorrin Pang; the Hawaiian cultural monitors; Kyle Kajihiro; Leuren Moret: Doug Rokke: David Henkin; Lindafaye Kroll; and the citizen monitors and ankle biters who bit into this issue and didn't let go! Spending THOUSANDS of their own money and HUGE amounts of time and humiliation to protect us all!!! You are my heros!
AND the Department of Health, Radiation Dept., Harry Kim, Gov. Lingle, Representatives, and Senators, here and in D.C., owe the people of Hawaii a HUGE apology AND 100% backing of the residents from here on out to make 100% SURE, the military follows its own laws in regard to the horrendous mess that they've made for Hawaii residents!
(And also, for the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Lebanon, whose land we have contaminated.)
Pohakuloa, Schofield Barracks, ....and probably, Kaho'olawe and Makua are now contaminated FOREVER. FOREVER!!!
THE PEOPLE OF HAWAII DO NOT WANT THE MILITARY TO BE THE NUMBER 1 ECONOMIC ENGINE OF THE ALOHA STATE!!!!
WE DO NOT WANT THIS MORALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FILTHY AND CORRUPT "BUSINESS" IN OUR STATE AT ALL!!!
POLITICIANS TAKE NOTE! (with few exceptions) YOU HAVE NOT PROTECTED US, YOU HAVE FAILED US!
....MAYBE EVEN POISONED US!
YOU BET I'M MAD!!! (...and have weird health problems)
THIS WILL FOREVER BE YOUR LASTING LEGACY TO THE PEOPLE OF HAWAII. WAS IT WORTH ALL OF THOSE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ARMS DEALERS? SHAME!!!
THE MANUFACTURE AND USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM MUST STOP.. LIKE AGENT ORANGE, BEFORE IT!
IF DU RADIATION IS BLOWING INTO THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE..WE ARE ALL IN BIG TROUBLE.
Education is the Key
Lindafaye Kroll RN BSN 03.Oct.2007 20:03
Education is the key. The one thing more powerful than the U.S. Military's nuclear ballistic weapons of mass destruction DU, is an educated, informed public that will not tolerate mass genocide.
In Hawaii (as well as the world)the mainstream media blocks the truth about depleted uranium munitions. Seventeen years of DU use is already too long. The DU spotting rounds found here are from the late 60's. The military has been poisoning paradise for decades. Many residents are concerned in Hawaii but we are blocked by the military power and apathetic political leaders, both control the media.
Millions and millions of people visit us and love Hawaii. This article and others are going to be posted around the world in an educational campaign in hope to create a public outcry to stop the military's contamination of one of the truly beautiful places on our planet. Please help us by taking a few minutes to write to the Army before October 30 and anytime to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, addresses sited in my article. Please pass this article forward.
Lindafaye
GOT RADIOACTIVE FALL-OUT AND GERMS? TOUGH LUCK , SUCKERS....
Please send in comments to addresses in main article! Mahalo! 04.Oct.2007 07:23
As reported in "The
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/100307HA.shtml
Enemy Within" by Jay Gould.
"The Nevada down winders"
suits were unsuccessful.
Despite winning their case in
the lower courts, the Appellate
Court ruled in favor of The Atomic
Energy Commission
on the grounds that the
U.S. government could not be
held responsible.
At one point, one of the
lawyers for the plaintiffs sent
a series of interrogatories to
the AEC defense counsel with
the following simple question:
Who has the responsibility
for the safety and welfare of
persons and their property
near areas of possible fallout?
The AEC answered as follows:
"It is the responsibility of the
heads of families and owners
of property to protect their
families and their property
from possible radioactive
fallout.
Aloha,
Passing these stories on. Will this be our fate down the road?
Mahalo to those of you keeping an eye on these most serious issues facing our state. (& world)
: DEPLETED URANIUM LAWSUIT: Biloxi Sun Herald - MS, USA/ Cottonmouth Blog ......Pohakuloa, Schofield, Makua, Kaho'olawe... NEXT??
What follows is the central claim and deep background information:
Claim #1:
Vieques Island, Puerto Rico is the place this lawsuit concerns. (2000-Pending)
The Navy used Vieques Island as a live fire bombing range since the Second World War. Over the course of sixty years the Navy bombarded the island -which is a mere 90 square miles- with every type of munition the Navy had in its arsenal. (This included Depleted Uranium a toxic substance which the Navy according to its own regulations was not supposed to use except for in warfare). In the case a former marine testified that they had tested chemicals on the residents of the island without the citizens' knowledge. The results of the Navy's prolonged activities on the Island have resulted in heavy metal contamination of the groundwater, vegetation, shellfish, and marine life which the inhabitants of the Island rely upon. Numerous scientific experts have conducted studies of the Island as well as the effects of the Navy's contamination on the Islanders and have found a direct correlation. In fact the Islanders of Vieques have a 30% higher rate of cancer then the Inhabitants of mainland Puerto Rico which is just 7 miles away from Vieques. The people of Vieques also have higher rates of numerous other disorders which can be linked to mercury, aluminum, cadmium, and other heavy metal contaminants which they were exposed to by the Navy's environmental contamination. In 2005, the Vieques Island site was placed on the EPA's Superfund List of the most hazardous waste sites in the country.
The plaintiffs in the suit, the people of Vieques, are American citizens. " Per capita, Puerto Ricans are amongst the highest in the United States as it relates to volunteering in the armed forces, as it relates to dying in the battlefield, and as to receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor because of their bravery." The people of Vieques were exposed to carcinogenic compounds because of the Navy's negligence. The suit which was brought was solely to compensate the people for the harm done not to stop the Navy's activities.
"There's been some harm done to people in the past. These are our friends and neighbors, and they don't want us there." - Pres. Bush June 14, 2001
(Eaves running for Mississippi Gov., now)
In 2000, Eaves opened a law office on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where the U.S. Navy had been conducting bombing exercises for six decades. Eaves sued the Navy seeking damages on behalf of 7,500 islanders claiming health problems, including respiratory illnesses, skin rashes, gastrointestinal complications and cancers.
"I have made nothing from the Vieques case," Eaves said. "That has cost me a lot."
Eaves said Wednesday that the plaintiffs included several military veterans and former civilian Navy workers who proved positive for heavy metals toxicity, including uranium.
He said some of the plaintiffs included "kids with an extra finger or an extra belly button."
The Navy acknowledged accidentally firing 263 rounds of bullets tipped with depleted uranium in Vieques in 1999 in violation of federal law.
Eaves said he filed a federal lawsuit in Texas during the 1990s on behalf of veterans from the first Gulf War - including Mississippi National Guard members - who were suffering a host of illnesses. He said that lawsuit is still pending.
ALSO.... I wanted to make sure you knew this....since The University of Hawaii just approved their new Navy weapons research lab.
Not much room for "mistakes" on an island....
US Labs Mishandling Deadly Germs
Larry Margasak, The Associated Press, says, "American laboratories
handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more
than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number
is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved
to do the work."
Do we REALLY want the military to be our #1 money maker? ....Seems like an awfully high price to pay.
BURNING TOXIC AND RADIOACTIVE MUNITIONS IN HAWAII
PLEASE SEND YOUR STRYKER COMMENTS! 05.Oct.2007 00:09
Re: Honolulu Advertiser: Contract given to destroy Schofield chemical weapons
...And the Dept. of Health said "the burns" were perfectly safe. Why then are they sending in a special contraption for 4.6 mil?
Hopefully this will be the end of "the burns," and O'ahu folks being bombarded with burning chemicals and radioactive fallout they can't see and have no defense against.
Also, this sounds like quite the racket for CH2M HILL ...Maybe the military needs to purchase a few of these contraptions since there is sooo much left to clean up at ALL of our Hawaii training ranges (and the entire U.S. and World) ; this could mean full time jobs for a lot of people!
Couldn't the military clean it up munitions themselves for less than $65,000 per weapon? Maybe the Army and Navy could go in halves to clean up this horrible mess they've made in Hawaii and elsewhere. OMG.... as the taxpayers hemorrhage money for this insanity.
Thanks to all of you who helped make this happen! ....and supporting our ohana on other islands! (many letters can be powerful!)
P.S. Aloha William, .... you wrote..." There is no public access to the area where the heavy metal was found."
(except radioactive heavy metal may "float" when burned or disturbed in any way; finding its own way to the public)
"The Army also previously said it was unaware of the presence of the weakly radioactive (DU) element until a contractor removing unexploded ordnance for the Stryker brigade discovered it in 2005 at Schofield.
(some scientists believe there is no such thing as "weakly" radioactive munitions, and they are impossible to clean up!)
don't believe everything you are told.
Updated at 11:57 a.m., Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Contract given to destroy Schofield chemical weapons
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
A Colorado company said it has been awarded a contract for up to $4.6 million to destroy approximately 70 recovered chemical weapons at Schofield Barracks.
Denver-based CH2M Hill said it will set up its portable "Controlled Detonation Chamber" technology at Schofield, provide technical support during operations, and disassemble and remove the system once the project is completed.
In early 2006, the Army said it destroyed six rounds containing chloropicrin, an asphyxiator used in World War I. Army officials said 152 rounds with chloropicrin and phosgene, another choking agent, were discovered during the cleanup of an old range that was to be used for the Stryker brigade.
The reason for the old weapons' presence was a mystery, but Kendrick Washington, a spokesman at the time, said, "We suspect that these rounds were used for military training or quality control testing during World War II.
Schofield officials could not immediately be reached for comment this morning.
The unexploded ordnance cleanup also yielded other potentially dangerous surprises for the Army, including depleted uranium used in aiming rounds from a 1960s nuclear weapon system called the Davy Crockett.
CH2M Hill said its system is the only transportable detonation chamber approved by the Defense Department's Explosives Safety Board for the destruction of munitions, including those labeled "Munitions and Explosives of Concern."
The company said more than 1,500 sites across the United States, encompassing an estimated 15 million acres, may contain such munitions, and growing concern about traditional open-burn and open-detonation destruction led to the "environmentally friendly" detonation chamber system.
Initial X-rays of some of the old chemical weapons found at Schofield showed they were filled with liquid and had unstable fuses that made some unsafe to move.
Experts from the 22nd Chemical Battalion's Technical Escort Unit made the identification using a portable isotopic neutron spectroscopy system that used gamma rays to identify a chemical signature.
The unit's early assessment found 4.2-inch mortars; 155 mm projectiles; 81 mm mortars; 75 mm projectiles; 4-inch Stokes mortars; a Livens Projector; and a 105 mm projectile.
The Army in August confirmed that depleted uranium from the Davy Crockett weapons system was found at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.
How much of the material was detected still is unclear. The Army said initial testing was done to determine the presence of depleted uranium, or DU, not the quantity of it. There is no public access to the area where the heavy metal was found.
In January 2006, the Army said it had found 15 projectile tailfin assemblies that contained depleted uranium at the Schofield Barracks munitions impact range.
The depleted uranium was used in XM-101 aiming rounds that simulated the trajectory of the Davy Crockett, a formerly classified recoilless rifle that could fire a 76-pound nuclear bomb.
The Army said the DU at Pohakuloa Training Area is the same type of material found at Schofield.
Earlier this summer, the Army said it had found more depleted uranium fragments at Schofield, and that the aiming rounds also may have been fired at Makua Valley and Pohakuloa.
Contractor Cabrera Services conducted an aerial survey of the impact area at Pohakuloa as part of the Army's efforts to determine the extent of DU use in Hawai'i and the best way to remove or mitigate it.
The Army also previously said it was unaware of the presence of the weakly radioactive element until a contractor removing unexploded ordnance for the Stryker brigade discovered it in 2005 at Schofield.
Reach William Cole at