[CPEO-MEF] UXO Warning Plaques

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

(from Marianne Thaeler <MThaeler@aol.com>, based upon a true story at
Ft. Bliss)

Near a hazardous waste clean up site, an  oozing tar pit left over from
an old paving project, a plaque was discovered indicating the existence
of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the area. The plaque was crude, simple,
direct and explicit. The area had not been identified in any archival
searches. Magnetometers discovered a number of items of UXO in the area,
which were properly removed. 

Suggestion for UXO contaminated sites which need long term monitoring
and clean up: bury plaques in places and at depths so that they will be
readily identified by detection devices in the future. Plaques may be
laid in a standardized pattern, or have a shape so that developing
discrimination technologies would know to unearth them for information.
Wording on the plaques should not be in code. 

Marianne Thaeler
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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