Uranium and Lead Kuwaiti's Sand Heads for Idaho

Currently, State Department of Health personnel are at the American port in Washington state “to test radiation levels and to ensure none of the sand spills.” American Ecologly representative Chad Hyslop said.

“U.S. Customs agents also were on hand to inspect the cargo,” Hyslop continued.

 “The sand became contaminated with low levels of depleted uranium following a fire at Camp Doha during the first Gulf War in 1991,” according army sources and Hyslop, “The Army then discovered potentially hazardous levels of lead in the shipment.”

Last week, the U.S. Senate candidate in Idaho, Larry LaRocco,  requested that Idaho’s  Governor,  C.L. (Butch) Otter, and the Lt. Governor, Jim Risch, halt “the 150 rail cars loaded with radioactive sand from entering Idaho. His staff hand delivered letters to each office.”

One Boise magazine cited that same U.S. Senate candidate as arguing, “Accepting this waste in the United States is poor public policy and environmentally unsound for Idaho.”

In his letter the governor, LaRocco wrote, “Let’s not turn Idaho into the world’s dump.”

According to the NEW WEST magazine, “LaRocco also notes past leaders, former Gov. Cecil Andrus and former Gov. Phil Batt, took firm stances against bringing hazardous materials to Idaho. He urged Risch to put aside partisanship and follow their examples. In November 2007, American Ecology’s PAC gave $2,300 to Jim Risch’s Senate campaign. The PAC had previously given $1,000 to Risch’s 2006 race for Lt. Governor.  Since 2002, the AE PAC has given more that $20,000 to the campaigns of Otter, Risch, Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, and Reps. Bill Sali and Mike Simpson.”

LaRocco claims to have personally called the company, American Ecology, dozens of time but has not been allowed to even speak to the company’s communication director.

SNAKE RIVER ALLIANCE & KUWAIT

Snake River Alliance is a nuclear watchdog group in Idaho.

According to one statement on its website, the Snake River Alliance executive director, Andrea Shipley has claimed, “The fact that this was shipped [from Kuwait] with hazardous levels of lead and this was not exposed until it came to the port in Washington is a major concern. Idaho authorities, particularly DEQ, must continue adequately monitoring this waste to know exactly what will arrive in Idaho. Safe and responsible clean-up is critical to safeguard the health of Idahoans and our environment.”

Shipley continued, “Depleted uranium is both a toxic heavy metal and a radioactive substance creating health risks that may be far more varied than is recognized in federal regulations today. When depleted uranium is exposed to the elements it becomes volatile, so the safest and most responsible clean-up is essential.”

Finally, the executive director of the Snake River Alliance noted, “Most importantly, the use of depleted uranium in armor piercing shells and bullets shows an inextricable link between the reusing of nuclear waste and warfare. There is no viable solution for nuclear waste at this time.”

Here in Kuwait, it is interesting to note that once-again neither the Kuwaiti government nor the U.S. military are willing to share how expensive the contract was to ship 6700tons of uranium and lead waste back to the USA.

On the other hand, many in Kuwait have now publicly and privately voiced relief that some of the depleted uranium left-over from the 1991 war, known in the U.S. as “Operation Desert Storm”, have been taken away.

Most Kuwaitis don’t speak openly about depleted uranium these days, but if prodded, most have worries and seem to concur with the view shared by doctors who visited the Gulf in the early 1990s and noticed the high rate of birth defects and deformations.

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