2006 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 7 Aug 2006 04:36:11 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Kaho'olawe (HI) "Back from Oblivion"
 
Back From Oblivion ; Dubbed 'Target Island', This Hawaiian Idyll Was a Military Testing Site for Half a Century Finally the Bombs Are Being Cleared and Nature is Winning the War.

By Phil Boucher
The Independent (UK)/Red Orbit
July 27, 2006

It's five o'clock in the morning and Dean Tokishi walks out of a dilapidated former US Navy barracks and heads for the shores of the Pacific Ocean. After a final check of his scuba equipment the 30- year-old Hawaiian straps on some goggles and plunges into the sparkling turquoise waters surrounding the island of Ka-ho'olawe. Within seconds he is surrounded by a vivid explosion of butterfly fish, yellow tang, flounder, squirrelfish and an array of urchins, coral and other aquatic life. It is the sort of underwater idyll that attracts millions of tourists to Hawaii each year. Only Dean's destination is no pleasure beach.

Below him the rainbow-coloured world hides a deadly secret: a vast layer of unexploded bombs, rockets, artillery shells and torpedoes from Kaho'olawe's 50-year history as a US Navy bombing range. Even worse, the ordnance is now largely camouflaged by the shifting sands of the Kealaikahiki Channel, which runs between the island and nearby Maui. The corrosive effect of the sea water also means the explosives are highly unstable. So not only can Dean not see the bombs, but he can't venture too close without setting them off either. It is a catch-22 from hell.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/590102/back_from_oblivion__dubbed_target_island_this_hawaiian_idyll/index.html?source=r_science
--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope 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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