[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL: "Soil contaminated with harmful substance at U.S. helicopter crash site, " Okinawa, Japan

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Soil contaminated with harmful substance at U.S. helicopter crash site

Ryukyu Shimpo (Okinawa, Japan)
February 19, 2014

On February 18, the U.S. military announced the result of testing of  
soil at the site where an HH-60 rescue helicopter belonging to U.S.  
Air Force Kadena Air Base crashed in Camp Hansen in Ginoza last  
August. The lead level in one sample was 0.744 milligrams per liter,  
74 times higher than the reference standard of the Japan Ministry of  
Environment Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law. The arsenic level  
in one sample was 0.215 milligrams per liter, 21 times higher than  
the reference standard. It is possible that these substances are  
residual materials from the aircraft. The Okinawa Prefectural  
Government and the Ginoza Village Office will investigate the site on  
and after February 19, when the U.S. military removes the polluted  
soils. A Ginoza official complained because six months have passed  
since the accident occurred. “Even if we are given access to the site  
after removal of the soil we do not know exactly where the helicopter  
crashed.”

All surface-water samples collected from the Okawa Drinking Water  
Reservoir and a nearby stream, which are about 70 meters distance  
from the crash site, were within Japan Environmental Governing  
Standards limits. The U.S. government concluded that water in the  
reservoir was safe. The U.S. Air Force collected soil at the crash  
site between October and December last year and analyzed it using the  
United States Environmental Protection Agency standard protocols.

...

For the entire article, see
http://english.ryukyushimpo.jp/2014/02/23/13223/



--

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

_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org