Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 7, 1 July 1990 — Pilau nerve gas incineration at Kalama (Johnston) Island [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pilau nerve gas incineration at Kalama (Johnston) Island

by Moanikeala Akaka Trustee. Hawai'i

As you may have read in Ka Wai Ola O OHA June issue your Office of Hawaiian Affairs trusfees recently passed three strong resolutions against the storage, destruction and incineration of lethal toxic-waste nerve

and mustard gas on Kalama (Johnston) Island whieh is ceded lands and part of our Hawaiian archipelago. Actually back in February 1986 your board of trustees took its first official position against this nightmare proposal. All peoples residing in the Facific should be alarmed at this incineration plan in our backyard. We were not consulted when this heinous instrument of death was proposed and manufactured.

This scenario is unreasonable, unpredictable and a risk to life, health and general welfare of our oeean home and peoples of the Pacific. U.S.-manufactured ehemieal weapons stockpiled on Okinawa were removed in 1971 because of pressure from the Okinawan and Japanese governments. Since 1970, U.S. law has prohibited the return of such weapons to the U.S.A. They were dumped on Kalama (Johnston) lsland where tney sit today; 72,000-plus M-55 rockets, artillery and bombs containing enough nerve and mustard gas to kill millions of people depending on the wind factor, weatherconditionsand population density. In 1983 when a public hearing was held on the proposed incineration it was stated that only three chemicals on the island as of 1971 from Okinawa would be disposed of on Kalama Island whieh lies 700 miles south-east of Honolulu and less than 600 miles from the Big lsland.

Do we who live in the Pacific have anything to fear? In 1968, during ehemieal weapons tests in Utah, 20 pounds of nerve-gas agent VX was aeeidentally released. lt was blown toa nearbygrazing valley and killed 6,400 sheep. Some died as far as 47 miles from the test site. Luckily it was a cold and rainy night so that loeal residents were indoors and drivers had their windows up.

What are we dealing with? According to Seymour Hersh, author of many articles on ehemieal biological warfare, a tiny drop of nerve gas on a man's hand will paralyze his nerves instantly and deaden his brain in a few seconds. Death fo!lows in 30 seconds. Cause of death is generally asphyxia following paralysis of the respiratory muscles. In spite of the fact that at the 1983 hearing the U.S. government admitted that only the 1971 Okinawa gases would be incinerated at Kalama Island, in 1986 President Reagan and West Germany's Helmuth Kohl agreed that the U.S. nerve gases would be removed from Germany. The gases are legally prohibited entrance to the U.S. mainland, so we Pacific Peoples (colonials) are forced hosts to this macabre cargo.

Under a shadow of secrecy, beginning this summer the United States Department of Defense plans to sail a convoy of ships loaded with nerve gas from Europe half-way across the world to Kalama Island. Whieh route those ships will take, whose backyards they will cross, what precautions, if any, will be undertaken to avoid any mishap is ali information secret but to a few. It is an affront to Pacific peoples that there has been no consultation about this U.S.-West German agreement. Among others the government of Micronesia (as reported by Hawai'i Public RadioPacific Island News), strongly condemned the unilateral decision by the United States government to destroy these highly dangerous substances in

the Pacific without consulting Pacific peoples. This is a very heavy-handed eolonial attitude and undermines any overtures toward trust and equality in establishing democracies in the Pacific. Onee having reached Kalama Island from Europe, the nerve gases, in the form of munitions, will be off-loaded. The wharf and harbor on the island ean accommodate onlv one ship at a time. Therefore, as several tug boats slowly move one ship into plaee for unloading the remaining ships will remain in the open sea, subject to oeean storms and other natural disasters. These nervegases are colorless, odorless and tasteless. These ships are laden with deadly cargo.

I attended, gave testimony and represented the OHA Board of Trustees at a U.S. Department of Army Hearing held March 20 on the Environmental Impact Statement for the "Storage and Ultimate Disposal of European Chemical Munitions Stockpile" at Kalama Island. It is important to know that few copies of this EIS were available to the public before the hearing. OHA's able and caring Health and Human Services Officer Arthur Manoharan, M.D., not only prepared trustee testimony but attended that evening hearing on his own time. He also testified as a concerned citizen and physician against this menacing incineration plan.

According to testimony given by Dr. Jon Van Dyke, University of Hawai'i Law School professor, the EIS says "the U.S. has agreed to remove tnese nerve-gases rockets from Europe by December 1992," but the EIS does not provide the details of this agreement. It also states that the preferred alternative for the obsolete nerve gas, now at eight storage centers throughout the U.S., is to destroy gases at their present location because of the risks of transportation. No analysis is provided for the risks of transporting these agents from their location in Germany to the port and then to Kalama Island, but the risks appear to be significant ones.

Logically, the preferred alternative form of disposing of these agents would also be to destroy them at their present loeahon. Is it not possible in this age of technology to render these ehemieal weapons harmless at their stockpile sites? Another dangerous aspect of this nerve gas incineration plan is that in the late '30s and early 40s the physical configuration of Kalama Island changed dramatically. That 'aina was expanded by dredging from 46 acres to 625 acres during and after World War II. Today, the island is two miles long and one-half mile wide with an average elevation of eight feet above sea level. Actually mueh of this atoll is really an "artificial island." A low-lying atoll such as Kalama has its weather and ecology controlled by surrounding seas and is subject to the typhoons and tsunamis generated by marine weather systems and distant earthquakes.

For instance, in August of 1972 the U.S. Air Force evacuated 580 military and civilian personnel in anticipation of Hurricane Celeste. When the hurricane hit, Kalama Island was assaulted for six hours by winds in excess of 150 miles-per-hour whieh created 45-foot waves. The roofs of several buildings were blown away during the storm. Twelve years later, in August of 1984, all 370 military and civilian employees were evacuated as Hurricane Keli subjected the atoll to windsof 75 to 100 miles-per-hour and created waves of 35 to 40 feet whieh swept across that atoll. The risks created by a repetition of these incidents are not even discussed in the Army's EIS.

Under the Law of the Sea Convention, Kalama is characterized as a "rare and fragile ecosystem" whieh nations are required to protect and preserve. It is also an established bird sanctuary. This island is still suffering from radioactive residues from nuclear tests in the late 50s and early 60s and from Dioxin whieh spilled when Agent Orange was

mishandled in 1977. Because of these previous environmental injuries it is particularly appropriate to provide special protection to this island eeosystem at present. Over a hundred people representing many organizations including representatives from our leqislature attended the March Army hearing about the European nerve - as transport. Testimony was given from 6 p.m. until after midniqht. No one with the exception of the military was in favor of this outrageous scheme on surh a vulnerable atoll.

Retired Fire Chief Frank Kaho'ohanohano appeared at the hearing and reiterated testimony he gave in 1986 as head fire-chief for the City and County of Honolulu against the incineration. He was concerned about atmospheric conditions that could lead to hazardous by-products being released by the incinerations and concerned that if any accidents occurred on Kalama Island releasing actual ehemieal agents into the atmosphere, that these by-products could be carried to the City and County of Honolulu and beyond and contaminate and pollute our oeean. He is also concerned that our medical facilities would not be able to adequately handle the tragedy of immense numbers of people that would be affected if "the winds blow the wrong way."

Hawai'i is in a dangerous position. We're willinq to do our part in lessening world tension and we agree the elimination of ehemieal weapons is important and necessary in creating global peaee. On the other hand we feel less than secure in as mueh as our lives, tradition and culture depend on the Pacific Oeean and all Pacific peoples agree on a non-polluted Pacific Oeean.

Representative Pat Schroeder of Colorado after inspecting the incineration plant on Kalama Island said that the committee members eame away "with their fingers crossed." Congressman Dan Martin told the press that the "U.S. spent half-a-bilion dollars on the facility and that it is time to go ahead, and let's hope it works." This is less than a democratic attitude in subjecting peoples of Hawai'i and the Pacific to a game of "Russian roulette." We don't like it, and we ean do better! It's time for America to grow up! Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono.

Comments on the Army's updated supplemental environmental impact statement may be sent by July 9 to: Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization, ATTN: SAIL-PPM, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md, 210105401.