[CPEO-MEF] Corps looks to public for help hunting Agent Orange

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Alaska
FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
Corps looks to public for help hunting Agent Orange
By Diana Campbell
6/23/2003

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants help from the public in its hunt
for one of the world's deadliest manmade toxins.

The toxin could be in Alaska soil once part of a Haines-to-Fairbanks
military oil pipeline. The search was spurred by an official state
request after Army correspondence surfaced in late 2002 confirming that
in the 1960s a herbicide known as Agent Orange was sprayed on the
626-mile-long pipeline's right of way to clear vegetation.

The corps needs public input to determine from which areas to take soil
samples in their search for the toxin, said Richard Jackson, a corps
project manager.

"We want to get samples before the snow flies," Jackson said at a Tok
public meeting Thursday. "We need to hear from people familiar with the
area or a stakeholder."

The corps plans to take 20 samples from the right of way and five
samples for background readings, possibly in September, he said. Test
results would be available by January 2004.

The Army used three types of herbicides on land surrounding the
eight-inch pipeline that was built in 1953 to supply petroleum products
for Interior military bases. It operated until 1971.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~26794~1471311,00.html

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