TL: JOHNSTON ATOLL CHEMICAL AGENT DISPOSAL SYSTEM BACKGROUND AND HISTORY SO: Sebia Hawkins, Greenpeace International (GP) DT: July 26, 1990 Keywords: greenpeace chemicals weapons disposal south pacific us background history gp military toxics bases incineration / The Hawaiian name for Johnston Atoll is Kalama Atoll. A Royal Proclamation added Kalama Atoll to the Hawaiian Nation in 1858. Johnston Atoll is comprised of four islands, the largest of which is Johnston Island, and is an unincorporated territory of the United States. The atoll is located about 700 nautical miles south west of Hawaii and 1400 nautical miles north east of the Marshall Islands. In 1926, an Executive Order established Johnston Atoll as a federal bird refuge, and was later redesignated as the Johnston Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1940. Johnston Atoll's strategic location in the Pacific led to a variety of US military operations being conducted there. Some of these activities are ongoing. Currently, Johnston Atoll is the site of a pilot incineration program called the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) designed to dispose of US chemical weapons stockpiled there . Federal jurisdiction over Johnston Atoll is divided between the Departments of Interior (Fish and Wildlife Service) and Defense (Defense Nuclear Agency, Army and Air Force). During World War II, Johnston Atoll was a "midpoint communications" center, and very busy airport. During the Korean War, Johnston Atoll was a "midpoint" for troops and critical cargo transport, medical evacuees, and "priority passengers." The airstrip was enlarged to accommodate these activities. In 1957, a Coast Guard LORAN (long range aid to navigation) transmitter station was built on the Atoll; and a Department of Commerce weather station was added to the Atoll's hardware. The Viet Nam War transport requirements added to Johnston Atoll's use; and in 1973 commercial aircraft began making refueling stops there - and remains a regular stopover for passengers enroute to or from Hawaii and several Pacific islands including the Marshalls. In 1958, Johnston Atoll's strategic function was expanded with Operation Hardtack - a series of atmospheric nuclear tests. Stratospheric nuclear devices were detonated. These high altitude tests continued for four years, until three aborted Polaris test shots contaminated parts of the Atoll with plutonium, which has yet to be completely cleaned up. Johnston Atoll remains an "optional" site for the resumption of the US atmospheric nuclear testing program, should the US decide to resume this activity and break from the Limited Test Ban Treaty signed in 1963. In 1971, at the request of the Japanese government, the US re-moved chemical munitions stored on Okinawa, in an exercise known as Operation Red Hat. In 1972 Herbicide Orange from Viet Nam was transferred to Johnston Atoll. In 1977, one million gallons of Agent Orange were removed from the Atoll and incinerated aboard the ocean incinerator vessel, Vulcanus, about 60 miles offshore. In the process of handling the drums, a spill occurred which added dioxin to the existing plutonium contamination, placing several areas of the Atoll off-limits to site personnel to this day. During the early 1970's 19 rockets containing nerve gas were chemically neutralized at Johnston Atoll in a process involving draining the liquid agent into a container and mixing it with sodium hydroxide until the nerve agents were destroyed. Currently, the US Army is beginning JACADS operations to incinerate 13,000 tonnes of lethal chemical nerve agents consisting of GB, also called Sarin, and VX. They are both highly toxic in liquid and vapor form, and exposure can result in convulsions and death due to nervous system paralysis within 10 minutes. According to the US Army, VX is "more persistent and less volatile" than VX. Mustard gas (H, HD, HT), a vesicant or "blister" agent, is also part of the Johnston Atoll stockpile destined for incineration. The exposure effects include severe blistering and respiratoratory tract damage. According to the Army, "recent biological evidence indicates that mustard agent may be a carcinogen." JACADS will demonstrate "proof-of-purpose" for the Army's preferred chemical weapons destruction process, a four-step incineration process, which will then be applied to industrial scale disposal operations at eight other sites in the continental United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon, Utah). It is expected that it will take four years to completely dispose of the JACADS stockpile. The first Environmental Impact Assessment on JACADS was issued in 1983. In 1985, a public hearing was held in Honolulu to discuss ocean disposal of the incinerator brine in the ocean. Three Pacific Island countries (Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Kiribati) lodged protests against ocean disposal during the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program meeting in Noumea, New Caledonia (Nov. 18 - 28). A Final Supplemental EIS (FSEIS) was completed in 1988 focusing on the Army's incinerator brine waste disposal plan, which due to public opposition and US law, required the Army to dry and drum the brine and ship the solid waste back to the US for storage in a hazardous waste landfill. During the past seven years, several questions have been raised regarding harmful environmental impacts on the marine ecology and future uses of JACADS, including one by the Federated States of Micronesia on the short and long term impacts to pelagic fish stocks. A new wave of protest occurred with the February 1990 issuance of a Draft Second Supplemental EIS (DSSEIS) by the Army regarding the transport of the US stockpile of chemical weapons stored in West Germany to Johnston Atoll for destruction. Roughly 400 tonnes of nerve gas, or 100,000 artillery shells filled with chemical nerve agent, stored at Clausen, West Germany is proposed to be shipped to Johnston Atoll during the summer of 1990. To date, official protests have been heard from the Pacific Council of Churches, the Asia Council of Churches, the Federated States of Micronesia, American Samoa, Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands Nitijela, the Hawaii State Legislature, the Governor of Hawaii (John Waihee), the Honolulu City Council, and environmental, human rights and peace groups throughout the Pacific. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has adopted two protest resolutions, and also asserts that Kalama Atoll (aka Johnston Atoll) was improperly annexed by the United States in 1898 from the Kingdom of Hawaii. The transport and incineration activities violate the spirit of several political agreements designed to restrict the trade in hazardous wastes and pollution of the marine environment: the Basel Convention, the Lome Convention, UNEP's regional seas conventions including the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP) which just entered into force on Monday, July 23rd, the LDC, and IMO. -30-[Greenbase Inventory July 28, 1990 ]