Re: [CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS: Ft. Sheridan (IL) ordnance in Lake Michigan

["Steven B. Pollack" <Steve@EcoEsq.com>]

The DOD and Army are now sending their representatives to openly lie to
the newspapers stating there is no technology for cleaning up underwater
unexploded ordnance. In fact, James Barton of Underwater Ordnance
Recovery developed robotic technology for doing exactly that. see
www.uwuxo.com He has spent the last several years trying to get a
contract at various sites including chemical munitions off Hawaii, 1,400
barrels full of munitions dumped in Lake Superior by the Army Corps,
400,000 UXO in Lake Erie at the Erie Army Depot (where munitions are
rolling up the shallow lake bed) only to be ignored at every turn. He
has tried to promote his technology with  several governmental
certifying organizations including ESTCP and SERDP for several years,
only to be ignored. 

Its the fox guarding the henhouse with the DOD and Army Corps ignoring
emerging technologies, the development of which would clean up the
environment but cost the fox a lot of money.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The Department of Defense spent $56 million cleaning the Ft. Sheridan
land after the base closed in the mid-1990s, according to Kurt O.
Thomsen, the civilian contractor overseeing the project, which is mostly
complete.

Seven landfills have been cleaned up; fuel tanks, asbestos and
pesticides have been removed. An additional $13 million will be spent
over the next few years to finish the job, Thomsen said.

But Thomsen said extending the cleanup to the water, where the Army
sometimes fired mortars and anti-aircraft artillery, would be very
expensive.

"We don't even have the technology to do that," he said.
______________________________________________________________________________

Steven B. Pollack, Attorney
Executive Director, Blue Eco Legal Council
3390 Commercial Ave.
Northbrook, IL 60062
847-436-9566
www.ecoesq.com
www.landfill7.com
www.fireclaimlaw.com


> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS: Ft. Sheridan (IL) ordnance in Lake
> Michigan
> From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
> Date: Thu, September 03, 2009 8:17 pm
> To: Military Environmental Forum <military@lists.cpeo.org>
> 
> 
> Highwood's beach no has for place for swimmers
> Residents are blocked from the water by concerns over old unexploded 
> bombs from Ft. Sheridan
> 
> By Jeff Long
> Chicago Tribune
> August 21, 2009
> 
> Steve Draska doesn't believe there are unexploded bombs along the Lake 
> Michigan shoreline of his community in Highwood, once home to the 
> bustling Ft. Sheridan Army base.
> 
> But officials say uncertainty is why they don't want him or anyone else 
> swimming from a beautiful stretch of beach now owned by the Lake County 
> Forest Preserve District. Draska -- who loves to swim, boat, and snorkel 
> -- said he feels like Moses, kept from the Promised Land.
> 
> His pain is doubled by an even longer section of lakefront to the south 
> of the forest preserve, controlled by the conservation organization 
> Openlands. Together, the two lengths of pristine lakefront stretch for 2 
> miles, with no swimming allowed.
> 
> "They're doing some good things," Draska said, acknowledging the 
> preservation and restoration projects under way on the sites, "but I 
> can't understand why we can't use the lake. Why can't they take a 
> section and say, 'Hey, let's let people enjoy the lake?'
> 
> ....
> 
> For the entire article, see
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-highwood-beaches-north-zone-aug21,0,3843932.story
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> Lenny Siegel
> Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
> a project of the Pacific Studies Center
> 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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