US braces for tsunami debris

US braces for tsunami debris

(AP) US braces for tsunami debris, but impact unclear
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska



David Kennedy, assistant administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service, told a U.S. Senate panel last month that in most cases debris removal decisions will fall to individual states. Funding hasn’t been determined.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, and other West Coast political leaders, have called that scenario unacceptable, saying tsunami debris poses a pending national emergency. “If this was a one-time event all at once, we’d declare it an emergency and we’d be on the ground like that,” he said, during the hearing he led.



Tsunami debris is tough to monitor. Winds and ocean currents regularly change, while rubbish can break up. Some trash, like fishing gear, kerosene and gas containers and building supplies, can be tied to the tsunami only anecdotally. But in other cases _ a soccer ball and a derelict fishing boat in Alaska and a motorcycle in British Columbia, for example _ items have been traced back to the disaster through their owners.

NOAA projects the debris having spread over an area roughly three times the size of the contiguous United States, but can’t pinpoint when or how much might eventually reach the coasts of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii.

An independent group of scientists and environmental activists are scheduled to sail aboard the “Sea Dragon” from Japan Saturday to an area north of the Hawaiian islands, with plans to zigzag through the debris, document what’s floating and try to determine what might reach the West Coast.



But just who will clean up the debris and who will pay for it hasn’t been fully determined.


As it stands now, NOAA has $618,000 allocated to clean up tsunami debris. The agency’s total marine debris program budget could drop by 26 percent to $3.4 million, under President Obama’s proposed budget.






Widespread or concentrated die-offs of marine animals aren’t expected, said John Hocevar, oceans campaign director for Greenpeace, but there could be local impacts.

NOAA officials say they don’t think there’s any radiation risk from the debris, despite the meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.


Pallister worried that a lack of awareness may hamper the effort.





Read More Stories About:

Big Government, Senate, Associated Press, Japan

Breitbart Video Picks