[CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS, DISPOSAL: "Are NJ’s toxic military burn pits about to be curbed?'

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Are NJ’s toxic military burn pits about to be curbed?
After years of pressure, EPA is drafting a rule that could limit open burning and detonation of waste munitions, including at Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County

By BENJAMIN J. HULAC
NJ Spotlight
DECEMBER 18, 2024 


WASHINGTON — Many days of the week, technicians at dozens of U.S. military bases, national laboratories and industrial sites cull leftover, outdated or dangerous weapons — missiles, bombs, rockets, landmines and other projectiles — from the nation’s munitions stockpile.

They do this through a process called “open burning/open detonation,” or OB/OD for short. To burn them, munitions are placed in metal pans and set on fire. For detonation, munitions are placed in pits, covered with soil and then neutralized with a separate explosive charge, like C-4.

“When you open burn them, you get dispersal,” Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, an environmental advocacy group, said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News, referring to munitions. “Some of these facilities are constantly open burning.”

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/12/will-epa-change-toxic-military-burn-pits-processes-including-picatinny-nj/

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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